Nightwalker
by thewanderingstory
Summary: Robin has a secret from his past before he joined the Teen Titans-a secret contained in a titanium briefcase. Who is Nightwalker? And why have the other Titans never heard of her? Canon ships only. Takes place after Trouble in Tokyo.
1. Inside A Briefcase

**I just want to issue a blanket disclaimer: Nightwalker is the only character I own. If I did own the Teen Titans, the original show would still be running. (Screw you too, CN!)**

Robin knelt on the ground to open the case. It was about the size of an average briefcase, except your average briefcase wasn't a 100% titanium alloy, bulletproof, fireproof, and blastproof with an encrypted lock. The Titans had just been through a grueling road race with Ding-Dong Daddy and several other supervillans to get it back, but only Robin knew what was inside it. When asked, his only comment had been, "It's personal."

But now he was going to show them.

Robin entered the code into the lock, and opened it up. Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg all leaned in, each trying to be the first one to get a glimpse. The lid lifted, slowly,to reveal…

A black, battered, 1940's-style fedora.

They all stared at it in confusion, but Cyborg was the first to speak.

"Uh, Rob? Why do you have a hat in there?"

"Because," he said, an unreadable expression on his face. "This is all I have left of an old and very good friend."

Robin lifted up the fedora to reveal a single strip of photos, the kind you would take in a booth at a fair. It showed a younger Robin, wearing a simpler version of his costume, with a black-haired teenage girl wearing the same fedora in the briefcase and a dark blue trenchcoat. They were both laughing, clearly enjoying themselves.

None of the others had ever seen the girl before.

"Who is that?" asked Beast Boy.

"And why haven't you ever mentioned her before?" Raven added.

"This belonged to Nightwalker," Robin said, tapping the fedora before passing it to Starfire for her examination. "And she died before I ever met any of you."

000

The five of them were in the T ship, en route to a rumored headquarters of the Brotherhood of Evil. Robin was telling his story while they flew.

"You all know how I lived in Gotham before I came to Jump City two years ago. What I never told you is that before that, I spent six months traveling around with Nightwalker. I met her in Steel City. She helped me stop a robbery being committed by one of the gangs, and we became friends."

He could still remember that rainy night with perfect clarity.

000

Robin pursued the masked man down the alley. His feet scrabbled for purchase with every step, making it difficult to keep pace with the man. He threw a birdarang at the thief, only to slip at the critical moment and cause it to go careening wildly in the wrong direction. He staggered, regaining his balance as the man ran around the corner, a bulging bag in his hand.

Robin ran around the corner, only to be confronted with the sight of a figure in a trenchcoat and fedora. She stood over the thief, tying him up.

"Hey!" Robin said. "He was mine!"

The person stood up and turned around, revealing herself to be a young woman with short black hair. She looked to be about sixteen, four years older than Robin himself. She studied him for a moment, eyes slightly unfocused. She shook her head, eyes snapping back into focus, and grabbed the money sack. She tossed it to Robin, the picture of calm.

"I'm guessing that this is what you were after," she said, in a pleasant, if husky, alto voice. "I didn't take anything."

Robin snatched it out of the air and checked inside. It was filled with wads of hundred-dollar bills.

"Thanks, I guess. But I'm taking him in as well," Robin said, somewhat grumpily, pointing at the crook.

"That might have to wait," she said, looking up at the sky.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Because there are five other simultaneous robberies happening right now. The gang is behind them. The police have three of them, but there are two others that are getting away."

"And just how do you know this?"

"Because I was eavesdropping on a police scanner. That's how I knew where to find this guy. Coming to help?"

Robin looked at her. How did he know he could trust her?

_I don't know what's going on. If she's telling the truth, then I'm going to need her help to find the thieves. 'Sides, she doesn't look like much. I can take her if she's a liar._

"Fine. Where are the other robberies?"

"There's one at First Steel City and another at East Bank."

"East Bank's closer, but it's still ten blocks away. It'll take too long!"

The girl eyed him. "You're skinny. I'll manage."

Before Robin could ask what she meant, she walked over, grabbed him under the arms, and shot straight up into the sky.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Robin yelled. He started to twist, trying to see how far they were from the ground.

"Stop thrashing! I don't do this a lot, and really don't want to drop you!"

Robin immediately stilled himself, but looked down to see where they were going.

"Go left! Left!"

She changed direction, and pretty soon they were directly over the bank. Robin worked a grappling hook into his hand and scanned the streets. He saw two people running in opposite directions.

"Drop me!" he shouted to the girl.

She did, and Robin wasted no time firing it off. It embedded itself in one of the buildings lining the alley, and he swung down to land in front of the crook.

"Sorry, but you're out of luck. And apparently, money." He punched the man in the face, knocking him flat on the ground. After the crook was handcuffed, Robin picked up the bag of money and dragged both back to the police.

"Thanks!" the officer who had just arrived at the scene said. He took another look at Robin. "Hey, aren't you…"

"There's a man tied up and another bag of money three blocks north of Meridan Bank. He's all yours."

There was a _fwump _as another criminal and bag of money dropped onto the ground next to them, and Robin looked up to see the strange girl descending.

"The police are on-site at First Steel City. Our work here is done."

"How do you know that?" the policeman demanded.

The girl raised a single eyebrow at him and prodded the one she had caught with a booted toe. "This one was surprisingly talkative once we got some altitude. Apparently they've been in radio contact with each other." She turned around and started to walk away.

"Good night," Robin told the cop. He followed after the girl before any awkward questions could be asked.

"Hey, wait up!" he called as soon as the bank was out of sight. "Who are you?"

The girl stopped at the end of the alley before turning around. "You can call me Nightwalker. But since my presence is bothering you so much, you don't have to call me anything."

"Look, I'm sorry I was so crabby earlier. And thanks for helping out. If you hadn't, that other guy might have gotten away. I just want to say thanks." He held out his hand in a gesture of friendship. "I'm Robin."

There was a momentary shock in her eyes when he said that, but she recovered quickly and shook his hand. "I kind of figured that out from the outfit. You're shorter than I expected."

"Hey!"

"Relax. I'm teasing." There was a twinkle in Nightwalker's gray eyes that convinced him she was telling the truth.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked.

"I don't know. My life's been turned upside down recently. Probably just fly off somewhere to think." She shrugged.

"Can I come?" Robin asked. "I can't fly, but I have a motorcycle. And I'm trying to get away, too."

She studied him for a moment. "We do make a good team. But I want to insist on one rule—no asking about the past. If you want to volunteer something, that's fine, but I'm not going to ask you anything. And I won't answer anything you ask me."

"Deal," Robin said immediately. There were several things from his past he never wanted to think about again, much less discuss. He could live with a burning curiosity.

There were a few questions he had, though, so he took the opportunity to ask as they walked to his bike. "So, does it count as asking about the past if I ask what else you can do besides flying?"

"No. And since you might need to know that later, you're perfectly entitled to ask. I'm telekinetic—not telepathic, but I can pick up strong emotions if I'm physically close to people. Oh, and I can make simple stuff."

"Make stuff?"

"That rope back there, for example. And…"

She closed her eyes, held out her hand, and concentrated. A backpack shimmered into existence, one strap in her hand. "This. Food, too, so I can stay on my own indefinitely.

"Why were you in Steel City, then?"

She gave him the hairy eye. "That does count as a question about my past. But for now, I can just tell you that I had a feeling."


	2. Memory And Loss

Robin was telling the rest of the story on the T-ship. Strangely, all of them were completely quiet as he opened up about half a year of his life he had never mentioned before.

"We had been traveling around the country for about two months when we got captured. Mad Mod separated us and locked us both in the same maze, on opposite sides. I thought we would never find each other and became lost. Eventually, I fell asleep.

"That's when Nightwalker revealed that she had very strong empathy, which meant that she could sense other people's emotions and control them or project emotions at others. This also translated into control over dreams. As soon as I fell asleep, she was able to find me in my dream and help make a plan. Nightwalker had kept her empathy a secret because everyone else she told had become either paranoid or terrified of her, even though she had it under control.

"Anyway, we got out, and kept traveling together. She had let bits slip about her past, so I knew she used to have a brother and two parents who cared about her, but I didn't know much else."

He paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "We kind of made a name for ourselves. I mean, we were very covert as far as a lot of people knowing about us, but we foiled a lot of plans by supervillains. Eventually, it caught up with us.

"Because Ra's Al Ghul tracked us down.

"He took us prisoner, and put us in a room that wasn't designed to open until one of us was dead. You see, he wanted to train one of us to work for him, so he wanted to know who was stronger—me or Nightwalker."

There was a moment of tense silence on the radio as the other four quickly worked out what must have happened. Typically, Beast Boy was the first to speak.

"Dude does that mean—"

"I didn't kill her," Robin snapped. "But—sometimes I think I might as well have."

"What do you mean by that?" Raven asked him.

"After half a day or so had gone by, Al Ghul was getting impatient. He warned us over a radio that he was going to flood the chamber with a slow-acting poison in a day if nothing had happened. He promised that the one who didn't die would receive the antidote. That's when Nightwalker told me."

"Told you what?" Cyclops asked the question that everyone was thinking.

"She told me who she really was".

000

Robin paced the confines of the small room frantically.

"So now we have a time limit. Okay, I can work with that. Can you make a saw, or a blowtorch or something?" He rapped the wall. "No, that wouldn't work. Maybe I could smash the wall and hack the circuits."

"Robin," Nightwalker spoke softly from the corner where she sat cross-legged on the ground, her fedora next to her. She hadn't spoken in over two hours. "You know that's not going to work. We can't win this, no matter what we do."

"Neither one of us is dying!" he snapped. "We _will_ find a way out of this. I'm not killing you!"

"Ever consider that I might kill you if you keep pacing? Because I'm seriously starting to consider it."

"Yeah, right." He knew her well enough to tell when she was joking, even at a time like this. "Come _on. _Help me think. We need to figure something out."

"I already have. Robin, we both know only one of us is walking out of here. And that's going to be you."

"Night, _no!_ You're not dying!"

"_Robin,_" she said, raw emotion thick in her voice. She looked up for the first time, and he was shocked to see that she'd been crying. "I'm already _dead._"

000

"Nightwalker wasn't from this world—our world. In her world, she had been a lucid dreamer, which meant that she was aware she was dreaming and could control her dreams. What she didn't figure out for a while was that she had the ability to move between dimensions when she dreamed. That's how she got here.

"The thing is, when Nightwalker was fifteen, she got sick. _Really _sick. A sickness that killed.

"It got worse, and eventually, she was moved into the hospital. She only had a few days left. She fell into a dream at the exact instant her body died, which effectively severed her spirit. She came to this world. It was exactly like a lucid dream for her, which is how she was telekinetic and could create things. The empathy, though, was an ability she always had. It was just strengthened by being here.

"The only catch was that she couldn't go back—ever. Nightwalker was sure that if she woke herself up, she would be returned to her body and her spirit would die as well.

"So that's what she did. She let herself wake up. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to watch. Nightwalker died in my arms, and there was nothing I could do about it. Her fedora and the strip of photos from her pocket were the only things that were left.

"I found Ra's Al Ghul and arrested him. He's still rotting away in Arkham right now. I hid the briefcase and went to Jump City, which is where I met you guys."

Robin blinked quickly, trying not to cry. He could still remember those awful moments.

000

"I have the ability to walk between worlds while I'm dreaming. It's just like a lucid dream for me. That's why I can make things, why I can move things. Except….for me, this is a dream that can't end. In my world, there aren't any superheroes or aliens. Just people. Which is why I was so afraid to tell you about my empathy. Other people were afraid of me when they found out. I thought you would be, too."

"But what did you mean about you being dead?" Robin asked. For the first time since they had woken up in this room, he was deeply, truly, afraid.

"I came down with a terminal disease when I was fifteen. It spread throughout my body, slowly, taking months to fully kill me. But it did, eventually.

"I was in the hospital for the last few days. I got sicker and sicker, until I was right on the verge of death. At the exact instant my body died, I fell into a dream. My spirit survived, even if my body didn't. I fell into this world. That's when I met you. I've been living in a dream for months, Robin. Maybe it's time I woke up."

"You _can't, _Night. You can't just die."

"I'm not afraid to die, Robin. I never have been. I just wanted my death to mean something. And if it saves you, then it _will_ mean something."

Before he could talk her out of it, Nightwalker stood up, put on her fedora, and looked him directly in the eye. "I'm so glad I met you, Robin. You're like a brother to me. I want you to know that. These months have been…amazing. Thank you. For everything." She closed her eyes and opened them again. A flash of some strange light ran through her irises.

She let out a gasp, and collapsed. Robin ran over to her and stared. Her flesh was becoming transparent, and he stared as a strange growth started in her chest and ran throughout her entire body. She gasped and coughed, her breathing jagged and rough.

"Robin," she whispered quietly.

"I'm right here," he told her.

"I never told you my real name, did I?" she murmured. "It's Eve—Eve Ambula. Did you ever learn Latin?"

He shook his head, wondering why she was asking him that.

"Ambulavit—means walk. Eve Walker."

"Eve—Evening—night…" he whispered. It all clicked into place. "Eve Ambula—Nightwalker."

"You got it." She let out a weak chuckle and closed her eyes. "Goodbye, Robin. See you…in…your…_dreams._" The last word was a whisper, just barely audible.

"Goodbye, Eve," he whispered back.

Her body faded away. He stared as she dissolved into nothing under his hands. The only thing that was left was her old fedora.

Nightwalker had loved that fedora. Everywhere she went, she had worn it, unless she was going in disguise. Seeing it there, while the rest of her was gone, caused his heart to break a was when he knew that she had to be dead. She would never have left it behind.

Robin looked up as the wall rumbled and opened onto a corridor. He grabbed the fedora and put it on his own head.

_Ra's Al Ghul…here I come._


	3. Nightmares

"Robin," Starfire said quietly. "Why do you never speak of Nightwalker? Did you not trust us?"

"I'm telling you now, Starfire. And I trust all of you with my life. I just didn't trust myself. That time after Nightwalker's death—it was one of the hardest things in the world for me. I even moved back to Gotham, with—with…you know…for a month, even though I swore I never would." He shook his head. "Nightwalker kept me grounded at a time when the rest of my world was falling apart. She gave me the strength to pick up the pieces." He didn't mention that the only reason he had been near Jump City was because he had hid the briefcase in Yosemite, where Nightwalker had once mentioned that she wanted her ashes to be scattered. He had been rather angry with her at the time for contemplating dying, but now that he looked back on it, it was surprising that she hadn't spent more time discussing death.

"So, were we just replacements for your _girlfriend?_" Cyclops asked, scathingly.

"Nightwalker was never my girlfriend," Robin said, his voice tight and controlled. "And you guys have never been 'replacements' for anyone. You have been my friends for as long as I have known you. I didn't think that just telling you about another point in my life would change all of that. I never meant it to. Like I said, I stopped thinking secrets should stay buried. I wanted to tell you. I'm tired of hiding it."

Starfire hadn't replied yet. He switched over to a private line and spoke to her. "Star? You okay?"

"Robin," she said softly. "I am afraid. Afraid of what will happen. You and Nightwalker were so close, once, and yet I do not know of her. I have never heard you speak of her. How could I have known you without knowing this? And what will happen if we vanish? Will you just forget us and move on?"

"Starfire," Robin said gently. "I've never forgotten Nightwalker. And I don't plan on leaving you—_any_ of you—behind, ever. All of you are my best friends."

"Even me?" Starfire asked, slightly tremulously.

"Starfire, you're _more_ than a friend, you're—"

He never got to finish. A rocket fired by a drone of the Brotherhood of Evil crashed into the T-ship, and everyone was caught up in fighting back. By the time it was over, he had forgotten what he had been going to say.

_Three months later_

Robin woke up in a cold damp sweat, frozen in a position that had resulted from thrashing around in the throes of another nightmare he couldn't remember. He hadn't had more than three hours of sleep in the past week.

Knowing that it would be futile to try and get some more sleep, Robin suited up. He could at least head out to the city and try to see if he could take down a few criminals. The other Titans needed to sleep, even if he couldn't.

_You need to sleep too, _his common sense remarked.

"Well, I can't," he muttered. He checked his mask and headed down to the main room.

Robin called up the display screens and checked them for any sign of criminal activity. There was a robbery in progress on 54th street. "Gotcha," he muttered.

He turned around to find Kid Flash standing there. It took his dazed, sleep-deprived brain a few seconds to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Oh. Hey," Robin muttered belatedly.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" the other boy demanded. In the two months since they had taken down the Brotherhood of Evil, there had been several Titans coming and going from the Tower. Kid Flash had been staying for the past week.

"Going out," he said.

"No, you're not. You should be asleep."

"Can't."

"Which is _why_ you shouldn't be going out. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Did Starfire tell you to ambush me?"

"No. I did." Raven stood up from the shadows in the corner and walked over to him. "Robin, have you slept at all recently?"

"Enough."

"How long?" Raven demanded.

Robin didn't meet her eyes. "Two and a half hours. Roughly."

The two of them stared at him.

"Have you been having any more panic attacks? Hallucinations?" Raven asked.

"No. After the first two sleepless nights, I scanned myself. I'm clean of any toxins. They're just nightmares. "

"Nightmares?" Raven asked him. She pulled down her hood and stared at him. "Is there any chance it could be—"

"She _died,_ Raven. Three years ago. She can't be doing this. And she would never have tried to hurt me like this. I can't even remember what happens in these nightmares!."

"Who's 'she'?" Kid Flash asked him.

"I'll tell you later," Robin muttered. "Raven, I'll be _fine._ I don't need more sleep. I—I—" the world was starting to spin. "I can't—" The room swum around him before he collapsed into blessed darkness.

000

Across the city, there were two more people who also were not getting any sleep. One, a man with a mask that was half black and half orange, stalked around a large room with metal-lined walls. The other was a teenage girl wearing what looked like it might once have been a trenchcoat, strapped into a metal chair with a dome covering her head. She gasped, and her eyes shot open.

"Well?!" the man snapped at her.

She didn't reply. He narrowed his eyes and raised a remote. As he pressed a button, an electric shock ran through the chair, causing her to arch her back and muffle a shriek.

"_Well?!_" the man demanded again.

She raised eyes full of hatred to look at him. "He's passed into exhausted unconsciousness. He might as well be in a dreamless coma for all that I can get to him." She smirked. "He'll be out for at least the rest of the night."

The man made an inarticulate noise of rage and punched the wall next to the chair.

"Give it up, Slade. This cycle will just keep repeating itself. Even using me

to give him nightmares, you won't be able to wear him out like that. You can't just throw pure fear at people to cut them off from sleep. Eventually, his mind will shut down too completely for anyone to reach. Robin will go back to normal." _And by then, I'll be gone._

"Is that so?" Slade narrowed his eyes and reached behind the chair. The girl attempted to look behind her.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Oh, this?" he said. "Well, I couldn't just rely on the pain of that chair to keep you under control. Somehow, you would no doubt find a way to slip in a way to free my old apprentice from your influence. So I will be riding along to watch."

"No," she whispered. Nightwalker felt herself being pulled into her own mind as Slade put on the helmet. In his moment of disorientation that accompanied his first use of mental powers, she locked all her memories away behind a psychic wall he could not penetrate. There were things she could never allow Slade to see. Not the least her connection to the person he was using her to torment.

_I'm sorry, Robin._


	4. Seperate Struggles

The girl who had once called herself Nightwalker was now trapped within her own mind. It had once looked like a cross between a library and a movie theater. A wide balcony ran around the room, providing access to the upper areas of bookshelves made of a dark brown wood and filing cabinets that had once held her memories. They were empty now, every memory locked away where Slade could not reach. Two wide, curving staircases led down from the balcony at one end of the rectangular room. A doorway was set between them, leading into a smaller circular room lined with doors.

At the opposite end, two thick, dark blue curtains were pulled tightly shut. Normally, when they were open, they would display a split screen, half showing what she was seeing, and half showing her thoughts. On the wall left of this, there was a fancy stereo system, which was her interpretation of what she heard and what she remembered hearing. On the wall to the right of the curtains, there was a large cubicle in the wall. This was usually covered by green, glowing bars, thick or thin depending on her level of calm. This was where she kept her ragebeast, which was a dangerous creature made out of pure anger and hatred that defended her mind.

She liked to call him Simon. Unfortunately, Simon had been effectively 'killed' by the chair Slade had strapped her into. The cage was empty and the bars were gone. The latter, however, was an indication of her mood. If Simon had been here, he would have been loose and attacking anything that didn't belong.

In the middle of the room was a low, round table and several sofas. Slade stood atop the table and looked around.

"Well," he said calmly. "Quite tidy. Now, since Robin is out for the count, you can try for one of the other Titans. Start with Starfire."

Nightwalker looked away. "I can't," she muttered.

"What was that?" he asked, coldly.

"I said I can't," she told him, gritting her teeth. "And I don't mean that I'm being rebellious or difficult, or that I don't have the power with the damn chair. I psychicly cannot reach Starfire, or any other members of the Titans besides Robin. It's impossible without a psychic print or connection."

"Ah," he said. "So…you knew Robin. You had to have known him to have established a psychic connection. Now…" he jumped down off the table and walked over to her, gripping her throat in one hand. "You are going to tell me exactly how and when you met him."

She didn't say anything, so he squeezed her throat. "_Now._"

Nightwalker attempted to hold out, but the pain within her mind was unbearable. "Alright," she gasped. He loosened his hold, but did not remove his hand.

"I traveled around with him for a couple of months before my grip on dimensions became too unstable. We were friends. He thinks I'm dead." She glared at him. "Enough information for you?"

"It is satisfactory." He dropped her on the floor and turned away. "Save your strength. Tomorrow night we will begin with a new strategy." He vanished, and Nightwalker curled up in her own mind, wanting to weep, fall through the floor, and die, all at the same time. Only one thought kept her going.

_He can't hold me here forever. Slade thinks he's trapped my essence with the chair, and he has managed to contain it, but he can't hold me forever. Eventually, I'll vanish. When that happens, Robin will be safe. His new team will be safe. And I'll be free. _

000

Robin groaned and slowly woke. He was lying in a bed in the medical wing with the rest of the team peering over them.

"Is he awake?" someone asked. Robin saw Beast Boy jumping up and down behind everyone else's heads. "C'mon, lemme see!"

"Robin, you are okay?" Starfire asked.

He groaned and rubbed his head. "I think…what happened?"

"You passed out from sheer exhaustion," Kid Flash said, peering over him.

"Yeah, man. You've been out all day," Cyclops added. "We were getting worried."

"At least your body is doing better." Raven's voice drifted from over the heads of the other Titans. Robin sat up to see her monitoring a computer screen. "The state of unconsciousness gave you some of the rest you needed, but you should really get some more sleep when you have the chance."

"Not likely," he said. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm pretty sure the only reason whatever it was that's been giving me nightmares couldn't reach me is that I was just too depleted. It'll be back as soon as I try to sleep. Until then, I might as well go look for it."

"I already swept the city," Kid Flash told him. "With the computers, and on foot. Nothing that could do this to you, especially not your old friend."

Robin glared at the other Titans. "I told him," Raven said. "I thought that maybe Jinx could help you out."

"J's visiting Steel City, and she doesn't do psychic stuff anyway," KF cut in. "But I figured I'd stick around and help."

Robin smacked the bed in frustration. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Try and get some more sleep. You need it," Raven told him. The rest of the Titans left the room.

Robin gritted his teeth at the dismissal, but lay down and crossed his arms tightly over his chest. Raven walked over to him.

"Can't _you_ do something about the nightmares?" he asked her.

**(A/N: I am not making Raven an empath in this story, since A) Nightwalker already is one and I don't want to have it look like Nightwalker is a copy of her, and B) it would make the story less interesting because then, of course, Raven could just fix the problem, and I want to avoid that.) **She shook her head. "My empathy has never been that strong where other people are concerned. I can tell what people are feeling, if it's fairly strong, but I can't influence them. While I have some psychic ability in my soul-self form, dreams are too difficult for me, too intangible. And what you're experiencing isn't just bad dreams, but pure terror being sent at you. I can't block your mind enough for long enough to keep you safe. But I can do this."

Before Robin could react, Raven detached her soul-self and dropped into his body, sending him to sleep. By the time he had realized what she was doing, he was long gone.

000

For the first time in over a week, Robin found himself in a pleasant dream. He and Starfire were walking through a meadow under a starry sky. No worries, no responsibilities, just the two of them alone in their own world. Robin turned to Starfire, wanting to seize the opportunity for a kiss, but something went wrong.

The world cracked around them, parts of it breaking off and splintering. Pieces of the sky fell down around them. Robin grabbed for Starfire's hand as she fell through one of the cracks.

"NO!" he yelled.

Suddenly, the cracks sealed. Robin found himself stretched out on a blank white floor, grasping or a fracture that didn't exist.

"Robin?" a voice asked. He jumped to his feet, already in a combat position. As soon as he saw who, he was facing, however, he froze.

"N-nightwalker?" he asked in a tremulous voice.

"Who else?" she asked him.

000

On the other side, in the waking world, Slade settled in to watch the girl's performance. "Good. Now do as I told you."


	5. Old Friends And Enemies

Nightwalker stood in front of Robin in the dream world. Some part of her refused to accept that she could be looking at Robin—the first Robin she had met—right now. It had been what, three years?

_Well, then this won't be out of character._

She stepped forward and gave him a hug, activating her limited telepathy. Even after all this time and practice, she could only communicate actual thoughts when in physical contact.

"I can't believe it's you!" Nightwalker told him out loud. Inside their link, she told him _Robin, don't react out loud to this and don't lose physical contact with me. We're being watched. Act natural. Don't believe anything I say unless I corroborate it in here._

Thankfully, Robin managed to grasp what was going on. Outside the link, he broke off the hug, keeping one hand on her shoulder, and said "I can't believe it's you, either!" _It _is_ you, right?_

"Of course!" she said. _It is, but the words aren't mine._

"What _happened _to you? How can you be alive? You _did_ die, right?"

"Yes and no," she said. _This next part is true._ "Maybe you'd better sit down."

He did, thankfully obeying her instructions to keep physical contact by leaving his hand on her shoulder, as though comforting her. Keeping up with that image, she took a deep breath.

"Well. Here's what I've managed to find out." Nightwalker settled in and waved a hand to project an image on the wall. "Do you remember how I told you I was born with strong empathy and limited telepathy?"

"Yeah. And how the empathy translates into control over dreams."

"Pretty much. When I dream, my soul can detach itself and slip between dimensions. What I didn't know is that my body kept it anchored, so I had something to return to once I woke up. I also told you how I cut my spirit loose just as my body died, which is the only thing that saved me. When I 'woke up' to save you, when Ra's Al Ghul trapped us, my spirit didn't have anywhere to go. So I've been bouncing around between different dimensions and universes, unable to hang on long enough to stay in one place. I've seen so much, Robin. Sometimes it feels like I've lived a hundred lifetimes with all the stuff that's crammed into my head." _I've met several different versions of you, by the way. You were a cheeky little brat._ As Nightwalker talked, images retracing the moment of her death floated across the walls.

"Can you stop that?" Robin asked, glancing uncomfortably at the wall. _I don't exactly like remembering that, you know._

"Sure." Night waved her hand again and the images vanished. She winced suddenly. Slade was inside her mind.

"Get to the point, girl," he growled at her. "Close the trap."

Nightwalker squeezed Robin's shoulder. _This is where it gets complicated. Be careful to keep up the ruse._

"I'm back in this dimension again," _True_ "I've managed to hole up in an old superhero base." _Ish._ "I need you help to get myself anchored here again before I lose my grip. Please, come find me!" _DON'T. This whole thing is a ruse. Slade has me trapped in a chair that's holding my spirit here, but it can't last forever. He's controlling me and making me do this. He's after you. I have to give you the coordinates, but you are NOT to follow them._

"What? Where?" _SLADE?! Not a chance, Night. I'm coming to find you._

"It's an old warehouse down by pier 16. Third back from the water, on the left side of the alley. It's got a cloaking device on the outside hidden in what looks like a fuse box." _Robin, it's fine. I'll be gone soon anyway. Slade thinks he has me, but he can't hold me forever. I won't let him use me to hurt you._

"Got it. I'll get there as soon as I wake up." _I will, you know. There is no way I'm leaving you there._

"Good." _Bad. Sorry about this._ She touched him on the forehead, ostensibly waking him up for Slade's benefit, but in reality, ending the dream and plunging him deeper into sleep.

000

Nightwalker gasped, waking up in the chair. Slade was standing in front of her, his mask inches away from her face. It took all of her self-control to keep herself from flinching away.

"You saw me," she snapped. "I passed on the message. Will you let me go now?"

"Now, my dear girl, why would I do that?" he asked her. "With my old apprentice back, I will be able to do so much more than I have of late. And with your abilities, neither he or his teammates will ever break free of my control." Slade leaned in even closer. "I am learning, dear girl. Soon I will be able to see past that pesky wall you have erected as a barrier against me, and your secrets and powers will be mine." He turned around and walked away as she sank a little further into the chair. She focused on the Void—not hard, when it was calling her essence to it like iron to a magnet.

She hadn't told Robin everything about her abilities, because it would have taken too long and Slade would have been listening. But she had learned more than she had told him.

Nightwalker had more than empathy on her side. In the past three years, she had learned that what drew her spirit between worlds while she slept was an intense attraction, and later an ability to manipulate, the Void. The Void was what lay between the universes and dimensions, keeping them separate. It ran under the skin of every world as an undercurrent keeping it held together and connected to everything else. She had the ability to move through the Void while she slept, and later, when she no longer had a body to anchor her, it tugged her along through its currents, casting her from one world to the next. She had been doing some studying, and had realized that if she could figure out a way to anchor her essence into something that already held a strong trace amount of 'her', she could recreate a physical body. And if she could fashion it out of Void energy, she could still walk between worlds and use the Void more easily than ever before.

The hardest part would be finding an anchor. She had to find something that not only was deeply personal, but also had her essence, so there was an idea of what she looked like. Nightwalker knew that she couldn't go back to her home dimension—as soon as she had gained some idea and control over where the Void sent her, she had tried to go back there.

It hadn't worked. Her original dimension had sealed itself off. It was locked behind an impenetrable barrier. She had a feeling that the semi-sentient Void was deliberately keeping her away.

A part of her was glad of that. It spared her the pain and turmoil of trying to cling onto an old life that was no longer hers. Her family and friends all thought she was dead. Her place in that world was empty.

She could never go back.

Which meant that finding something to anchor herself had suddenly become that much more difficult.

A thought occurred to her. _Could Robin have kept something of mine?_

She dismissed the thought. Not only was that highly unlikely, but even if it was, she couldn't stay long enough to find out. She had to figure out how to get out of here. Nightwalker bent her mind to releasing her essence from the chair, bit by bit.


	6. Recovery

Robin woke up slowly and carefully. He had a faint memory of a dream, and he knew it was important, but the more he tried to reach for the pieces, the faster they slipped away.

He took a deep breath and relaxed, closing his eyes, letting the fragments come to him. As Robin's mind cleared, pieces fell into place.

_A room—a girl—_

"NIGHTWALKER!" he said aloud as the memory slammed into him. He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs.

Starfire and Raven were on the stairs, talking, and he just barely managed to avoid crashing into them.

"Friend Robin, what is wrong?" Starfire asked, helping him to his feet. She let out a small yelp as he grabbed her hands and Raven's and dragging them along.

"It's Nightwalker. She's alive, she's here, in this dimension. Slade's got her. I have to help her. How long have I been asleep?" he demanded.

Raven threw her hand up, causing a black shield of energy to block off the hallway directly in front of him. He crashed into it, losing his grip on the two girls. The world got blurry for a moment, and when it cleared, the rest of the Titans, including Kid Flash, were standing oer him.

"Rob, what's going on?" Cyborg asked him.

"He says that his friend, the Nightwalker, is alive, and a captive of Slade," Starfire told him.

"Dude, are you feeling okay?" Beast Boy asked him. "You said she died."

"I know, I know, but she didn't. She's been pulled between different dimensions ever since she vanished. Without a body to anchor her, she can't keep her grip for long enough. She wound up in this dimension, and Slade trapped her in a chair. I have to help her!"

"You've said that," Raven noted. "Robin, you've been out for eight hours."

"What? That can't be true. She needs my help. I have to go!"

"Robin…"

"I SAW HER!" he shouted. "She was right in front of me! She _gave_ me directions. And I'm going to rescue her. Whether you come along or not is your choice, but I'm leaving now."

He got up and started to walk towards the door before KF ran in front of him. "Have you considered that this is probably a trap?" he asked.

"I know it is," he said. "She told me."

They all stared at him. "And you are going?" Starfire asked.

He glared at them all. "Look," he said. "Slade's back. If that's true, we need to go check it out. If she's alive, I'm going to rescue her, and that's that. If not, I'll give Slade what's coming to him. Are the rest of you coming or not?"

They continued to stare at him in silence for a moment, before Starfire stepped forward. "If this Nightwalker is a friend of yours, then she is a friend of mine," Starfire told him. "I will go with you."

"You're not going in without help, Rob," Cyborg told him. "Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not letting you go after Slade alone."

"Dude, the rest of us have a score to settle with Slade as well, even if he did sort of help us save the world."

"We're coming," Raven told him.

"Ah, you probably couldn't do it without me. I'm in," Kid Flash told him. "So where are these coordinates, exactly?"

000

Robin slipped along the docks as quietly as possible, counting warehouses.

_Five, four…three!_

There was a fuse box on the wall, just like she had said. He carefully lifted the cover to reveal a device that was most definitely not a fuse box. Robin pulled out a birdarang and slit the wires. A faint shimmer ran over the building.

Kid Flash ran up behind him. "Whatever you did worked. There's a door I didn't see before on the other side of the building, way too high-tech for a simple warehouse. You better come see." He ran off in a streak of red and yellow, slowing just enough so Robin could follow him. There was indeed n ominous looking steel door where one shouldn't be. Raven, KF, and Cyborg stood in front of it, examining the lock. Beast Boy was in dog form, sniffing around the base and the edges of the warehouse.

"Where's Starfire?" he asked.

"Flying surveillance overhead. She's trying to see if there's another way in," Raven told him. "This door is at least a foot thick, and it has a thin layer of gold in it that blocks my magic. So I can't create a portal through the door."

"And it's too thick for me to vibrate through," KF added. "I might get stuck in the middle. Fusing molecules with a steel door is not the way I want to go."

"I'm trying to pick the lock," Cyborg said, looking up from a screen. "It's not working so far."

"What about the walls?" Robin asked.

"Even thicker than the door," Raven said, passing her hand over them. "With the same trick."

Beast Boy changed back to human and stood up. "I can't smell anything inside, but Slade's definitely involved in this. And there's something—kind of like what the hat smelled like, but not quite."

"It's got to be her," Robin said. "I know it is."

Starfire landed next to him. "There is a vent on the roof, wide enough even for you, friend Cyborg. Let us go inside and find your friend, Robin." There was a slight coolness in her voice on the second sentence.

"Thank you, Starfire," he said. He unhooked a grappling hook from his belt and aimed it at the roof, sending it flying up to wrap around a vent. He let it pull him up. Raven and Beast Boy flew up to the roof, and Starfire grabbed Cyborg under the arms before doing the same. Kid Flash backed up a few steps to get a head start, then simply ran up the side.

They met on the roof, where Starfire popped the vent cover and they made their way inside. Robin was the first one to drop down onto the warehouse floor.

"Nightwalker?" he called turning around. He was surrounded by darkness. The rest of the Titans followed him, dropping down to form a circle on the warehouse floor.

"Yo, man, what's going on?" Cyborg asked.

"A very good question, boy." The horrifyingly familiar velvety voice seemed to come from all around them. "Allow me to shed some light on the situation."

The warehouse lights flickered on all around them, revealing a platform at one end of the warehouse It was fifteen feet off the ground, made of a metal scaffolding. Slade stood at the front of it. On top of his mask was placed a strange helmet connected to something behind him by wires.

"Dude," Beast Boy asked as the Titans stared. "What _is_ that? The latest in supervillain fashion statements?"

"Perhaps," he said, calmly. "Or perhaps not."

He stepped to the side, revealing that the helmet was wired into a metal chair. A young woman wearing what might once have been a trenchcoat was strapped into it. A domed helmet covered her head, revealing a bruised and battered face with wisps of black hair straggling around it.

"No," Robin whispered. "Nightwalker…"

Her eyes fluttered open. "Robin…" she said, weakly. "Get…out of here…" Her eyes slipped closed with exhaustion as soon as she had gasped out words.

"_No!_" he yelled. He turned to Slade. "What have you _done_ to her?!"

"She has become my…helper." Slade said, calmly. "Her powers are not only quite prodigious, but very useful, as well. After all, they brought you here, didn't they?"

"_You,_" he growled. "Let her _go!_"

"Now why would I do that, my apprentice?" Slade asked him.

"We're done with that, Slade. I won't work for you."

"It is hardly as though you have any choice in the matter," Slade said, calmly. "As a matter of fact, I have been considering something more than just one apprentice." He leaned closer to the Titans. "I have been considering an entire team of my own."

"Never," Raven told him, venomously. "You tried this, Slade. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

Starfire let out a yell and flew at Slade, starbolts lighting up her hands and eyes. Slade's eye narrowed. Nightwalker let out a muffled shriek, and Starfire screamed. The light faded, and she fell to the floor.

"Starfire!" he shouted. He started to run over to her, but halfway there, he was hit by a surge of pure terror. He screamed as well, and fell to the floor. As horrible memories were forced to the surface, the screams of the other Titans registered in his consciousness.

In a moment, the surge had passed, and he found himself trembling on the floor. It took a moment before he realized that Raven was standing over him, saying his name.

"Robin," she said, her voice growing frantic. "Robin. _Robin!_"

"What? What?" he asked. "Where am I?"

"Slade, remember?" she said. "Look, he's somehow manipulating your friend's empathic powers to attack us with fear. I'm managing because I'm used to controlling my emotions, but the others—they're hit pretty bad. We need a plan!"

Robin shook his head. "Get Nightwalker. Once she's disconnected from that machine, it should stop working. I'll guard the others."

"Check Starfire first. She was closest, and her powers are closely tied to emotion. She'll need help." Raven transmuted into her black raven form and flew at the chair. Slade tried to stop her, but she blasted him backwards, knocking him off the platform and out of the helmet. Raven became herself again, and started unstrapping Nightwalker from the chair.

As soon as she was loose, Nightwalker gasped and started fading. "No…anchor…" she panted. "Void…pulling me in."

"Robin!" Raven yelled. Robin looked up at her. "I have to get her back to the Tower. I can stabilize her there."

"Go!" Robin shouted at her. Raven returned to her energy form, carrying Nightwalker with her, and soared through the ceiling. Robin took off running towards where Starfire had fallen. When he got to her, Robin fell to his knees and checked her pulse.

"Starfire?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

She groaned. "Robin," she said quietly. "I am not sure I like your old friend."

He almost laughed with relief. "She's not usually like that. I'm pretty sure that was Slade's fault."

Starfire groaned and got to her feet. "I will help our other friends. Go get Slade."

"Thanks, Star." Robin gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran off towards where Slade had gone.

When he got behind the scaffolding, he found that Slade was waiting for him a trigger in his hand.

"That's it, Slade. You're not going to hurt any of my friends, ever again!"

"I wasn't the one who hurt her," Slade replied calmly. "My chair was the only thing that kept her anchored to this dimension. Her spirit is not just jumping around—it is fading, bit by bit. She will die soon. Her spirit will be lost."

"No. You're lying!" Robin shouted.

"Am I?" Slade asked. He held up the trigger and pressed the button. There was a loud explosion from the main room.

"My device is gone," he said. "And so is your friend, and any hope for her. Goodbye, Robin. I will see you again."

Robin yelled and jumped at Slade. Slade pushed a different button on the trigger, creating a small explosion. As soon as Robin got over his disorientation, Slade was gone. Robin yelled again and punched the wall.

"Robin?" Starfire's voice came from behind him.

"He got away," Robin said, his voice so thick with fury that he almost choked. "All of this, and he _got away._" He punched the wall again. "Dammit," he said, rubbing his hand.

There was a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Robin," Starfire said, quietly. "There will be other missions, and other chances to capture Slade. Today was a victory. We are unhurt, and we have saved your friend."

"Nightwalker!" Robin said. "We have to go. Slade told me that she's dying. How are the others?"

"They are fine. If we must go now, we will go now."

"Come on. We have to get back to the Tower," Robin said. He and Starfire ran back to the main room of the warehouse. They grabbed the other three Titans and set off for home.


	7. Stories And Strategies

Raven landed inside the infirmary and changed out of her bird form, so Nightwalker was leaning on her for support.

"Come on," Raven muttered. "Just a couple of steps. You'll be okay." Suddenly, she gasped. There was a voice inside her mind.

_I'm so sorry about this, but I couldn't figure out another way to communicate. Relax. I won't read your thoughts, I just need to ask you a favor._

Raven stopped and turned to look at the girl who had collapsed against her. "Is that _you_?" she whispered.

One of her eyes opened to reveal a flash of a gray pupil. _Yes. Except I'm having trouble holding on to this reality. I'll vanish soon, all my essence draining into the Void, unless I have something to either insulate or anchor me. Your dark energy helps to contain my spirit. Can you put me in a bubble of it?_

"Are you sure about this?" Raven asked her. "It might not be good for you to mix with it."

_I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't. But you need to do it soon, or there won't be enough of me left._ She mustered the energy to raise her hand, revealing that it was starting to flicker.

Raven lay the girl down on the floor. Her breathing was growing even shallower, and now her whole body was starting to flicker.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven chanted, summoning her shadow energy. It rose from the floor in a bubble around Nightwalker, lifting her off the floor so she was floating inside it Raven let out a sigh of relief as she saw that the other girl's body was no longer flickering.

_Thank you._ The ripple of thought came to her through the magic encasing the girl.

Raven levitated into her meditation position. "You can still do that?" she asked.

_Yes. My telepathy is fairly limited. I can only talk to people when I am in physical contact with them. Or in this case, spiritual contact._

"So, what's wrong with you?" Raven asked. "And how well do you know Robin?"

_Those will both take some time to answer. Which would you like me to start with?_

"Robin. He said you were his friend, but you were working with Slade. And if I'm not wrong, you're the one who's been sending him nightmares."

The other girl was silent for a moment. _I knew Robin fairly well, considering we spent half a year practically living in each other's shadows. But he's changed—a lot. When I knew him, he was younger. He had just left his old home after a traumatic experience. He was more…fragile. So was I we. We helped each other recover. When I…left…he finished that recovery on his own. Robin's like a brother to me, but his life has filled in. He doesn't need me coming in to make his life more complicated. As for Slade, he captured me when I accidentally teleported into his warehouse a week and a half ago. He's been using my powers, channeled through that chair and controlled by him, to attack Robin. I tried to keep him from finding out about my prior connection to Robin, but he got into my mind._ A shudder ran down the connection. _It was a horrible experience. I swear that I didn't know this was Robin's dimension. I don't want to mess with his new life, especially when he's done so much good with it._ There was a pause. _Quick question. Does he pace?_

"What?" Raven asked, caught off-guard by the odd question.

_Does Robin ever pace when he's thinking or upset?_

"Um, no. Not that I've ever seen. Why?"

_When I knew him, Robin paced all the time. He had so much nervous energy and tension that he couldn't keep still. He's grown up, Raven. He's grown into—himself, if that makes any sense. Robin's built a new life for himself, and I won't go into it and cause problems._ A feeling of bitter amusement echoed down her connection. _I don't think I'll have the chance. You asked what's wrong with me? Well, empathy isn't my only ability. You know how there are multiple universes and dimensions?_

"Yes. I'm from a different dimension myself—Azarath."

_I've been there! Amazing library. Only problem is that I was intangible most of the time and couldn't pick up any books, so I settled for reading over other people's shoulders. A nice monk found me after the first day and helped me find books to figure out my problem. Anyway, have you ever heard of the Void?_

"The Void? No."

_Didn't think so. There wasn't anything on it in the library at Azarath either. I had to work it out on my own. The Void runs around, under, and through every dimension. It's also what's in between them, holding them apart. I was born with a connection to the Void. Every night, it would draw my spirit out of my body and I would be pulled into another dimension in a dream. I thought they were lucid dreams, but I was really just manipulating the Void energy around me. When I…my body…died, my spirit landed here. Since it was sort of like a dream, I hung on pretty well, but as soon as I released my spirit, I got caught up in the Void. It's been sending through hundreds of different dimensions. I have nothing to anchor me, so I couldn't control it. If I had something that not only was emotionally important to me, but also contained some of my essence, I could make a new body using the Void. Unfortunately, I can't reach my home dimension, and I don't know where to get anything else with my essence in it. Without it, I'll be drifting between dimensions until my spirit breaks apart._ She was quiet. _Thank you for doing this, but I can't stay in here forever. Eventually, you'll have to let me go. I just wanted to say goodbye to Robin first._

"Sure. But I think that—" before Raven could tell her about the hat, Robin burst into the room.

"How is she?" he asked, anxiously.

"Stable, for now," Raven told him. "But she can't last like this forever."

_Is that Robin? Raven, could you touch him please? I'd like to add him to the link._

"Sure," Raven said.

"Sure what?" Robin asked. She gestured for him to come over. When he did, she put her hand on his forehead.

_Robin?_

"Night!" he said. "You're in contact with her?" he asked Raven.

_Yes, she is. You've grown, Robin; so much. It's wonderful to, er, see you._

_Nightwalker, what happened to you? I know you couldn't have been telling the truth with Slade watching._

A mental 'sigh' echoed down the connection. _Storytime, round three. So, it all starts with this place called the Void…_

_…which is why I can't stay here. No anchor means no me._ Nightwalker finished her story for Robin's benefit.

_So what does your anchor have to have?_ Robin asked.

_It needs to be something that not only contains some of my essence, so that I have a tie to it, but something that I have a strong emotional connection to as well, so my empathy can strengthen the tie._

Robin broke the link and stared at Nightwalker, who was still floating in the bubble of Raven's magics.

_Essence and an emotional link…could it really be that simple?_

"I'll be right back," Robin said. "Don't, ah…go anywhere."

He ran out, leaving Raven to hear Nightwalker's remark, _Well, how the hell am I supposed to do that?_

Robin headed for his office as fast as he could go. After the case had been stolen from Yosemite, he had moved it into a high-security vault at the tower. It took him a minute before he could get in, because his fingers were shaking so badly. Eventually he had it opened and the case in hand. He ran back up the stairs and into the infirmary. The two women were exactly where he had left them.

"I think I've got something to solve your problem, Night," Robin said. "Raven, link me up."

Raven hovered over and put her hand on his arm. "Is that…"

"Yup. It's the best option we have. Maybe the only one."

_What is that?_ Nightwalker was looking down the mental connection. _Oh, there is no way. That can't be. There's not a snowball's chance in hell…_

The briefcase clicked open to again reveal the fedora. There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the link before Nightwalker said, _Okay. A really, really big snowball, maybe. Holy shit, you actually kept it._

"Language, Night," Robin said, absentmindedly. He had told her that so many times while they were traveling together that it was a reflex now. At least this meant that 1, she had recovered enough that she was able to casually swear, and 2, that she was comfortable enough to do it around Raven. Robin slipped on a pair of gloves from his utility belt. If she really needed as much of her essence as she could get out of the hat as possible, then it was probably better that as little of his touched it as possible. As for the times he had worn it before, the damage was done. All they could do was hope.

"So how does this work?" Raven asked.

_I need to have it be touching my skin. And then I'll need a full-length mirror, some privacy, and no interruptions for at least twenty-four hours. And I mean NO interruptions. The hat has a memory of 'me', but I'll have to rebuild my body from scratch, sort of. And out of Void energy, which might seriously damage anybody who comes near except me._

"Got it," Raven said. "And I actually have a place for you to work." She walked out of the door, the bubble following her. Robin walked after her with the hat, unsure of where she was going.


	8. Restoration

Robin got his answer as to "where" when Raven led him down to her room. Nightwalker gave the "why."

_You've been opening portals in here!_ Nightwalker was 'looking' around the room. Robin put a hand on Raven's shoulder and experienced an odd sensation as he saw what Nightwalker could see through his and Raven's eyes. Nightwalker was 'seeing' pools and swirls of a strange, sparkling black energy flowing around the room.

_I knew there was reason I liked you,_ Nightwalker 'said' to Raven. _But I don't want to throw you out of your room._

"This is the best place for it," Raven said. "You'll need to be out of the bubble to work, right? Except then you risk drifting off. I can expand the protections to cover the room itself, but you can still work with the leftover Void energy in here. Plus, this way you can help me clean it out. Too much of this stuff interferes with my meditation."

_Using a total stranger to clean your room? Oh, I definitely like you. This is perfect. Thank you._

Raven shooed Robin out of the room and followed him. As soon as they were clear of the door, Raven turned around. She brought up protections of dark energy from the walls of the room until it was a thick, solid bubble. As soon as that was done, she dissolved the one around Nightwalker.

Robin and Raven walked downstairs together. "Thank you for helping her," Robin said. "I know it's asking a lot to just drag an old friend here and have her ask for help. I didn't mean to cause this much trouble."

"It's okay, Robin," Raven told him. "Really." She meant it, too. While she had brought Nightwalker here, the other girl's mind had been so exhausted that her protections were down. Something was wrong with her memories, as well. It was as though they had been locked away and were pouring back into her mind. Raven had seen a great deal of Nightwalker's mind. Several of the memories from the past three years were even worse then some of the things Raven herself had experienced. Raven had seen the other girl's soul laid bare at her most vulnerable moment. Still, what she had seen had in no way left her with a sense of mistrust. Raven sympathized with the girl, and wanted to help her. Even with their differences, not the least of which was the fact that the other girl used emotion (which Raven tended to avoid at all costs) as a weapon, she felt that they had a lot in common. She wanted to help Nightwalker as much as she could.

Nightwalker gasped as the bubble protecting her vanished. As soon as it did, she diverted half her energy and focus into keeping herself together. The rest of it went into extracting and reshaping the Void energy to be found around the room.

She walked over to a mirror and stood in front of it, picking up her hat. A quick mental and empathic 'scan' of the hat revealed that it contained enough of her essence to easily replicate her body. And with the deep emotional connection she had to it, it wouldn't be hard to work with.

Nightwalker sat cross-legged and placed the hat gently in her lap. This would be tricky.

She slowly gathered in every part of her essence that was still on this plane, even reaching into the Void to pull out as much as she could. Once she was sure that she had her entire soul in one place, she took a deep breath and 'reached' for a pocket of the Void energy in the corner.

While the Void energy was all around the room, it was mostly in small amounts. It took a great deal of the energy before she had enough. Nightwalker shaped it into a vaguely humanoid form before reaching into the hat for a mental 'image.'

Extracting an idea of what 'she' used to look like, Nightwalker imprinted it upon the Void essence. It took her form and rearranged itself so it formed an image of her body. Fortunately, since she didn't want to wear the same clothes for the rest of her life, the image was nude. This was part of the reason that she didn't want any interruptions.

She examined the image critically. It looked pretty much as she remembered. Nightwalker refused to indulge any vanities, but she did add in a little extra muscle mass in the arms and shoulders to increase her strength. Once she had an idea of how the outside was, she checked the inside.

It took a while for her to check every organ, but she wouldn't make any mistakes. The cancer that had killed her the first time was still there. She had to burn every cell that even showed potential out of her body. Once that was done, she strengthened the organs that had been prone to or damaged by it, just in case.

Nightwalker was very careful not to upset her body's balance too much. Without a sample of her essence, she couldn't have done this. A body was too complicated and had too many details to completely replicate just from memory. It was difficult enough _with_ the sample.

When it was fairly strong and as disease-resistant as she could make it without bordering on super-human, she started an interesting part of the process.

The superpowers.

Her empathy and telepathy were mental powers, and stayed with her soul, but she would have to make sure her body could move through the Void safely without merging with it. Plus, she had learned that flight was too handy to give up. Nightwalker took a moment to coalesce her body, and to surround the Void energy with a layer of insulation. It was a little telepathic trick that should hold her body together even if she was unconscious and floating in the Void.

And now was the time to ask for favors.

She slipped into a meditative state, picturing herself floating in front of the Void. She had always known that the Void existed in a semi-conscious. It seemed like it has plans and intents and purposes of its own. Over the last three years, she had let it pull her about as it willed, and tried to fix things wherever it sent her. She had always had a feeling that the Void had a purpose in sending her where it did, and that it wasn't merely random. If that was true, than she had been working for it for a long time. She knew she had been at least three universes where her actions determined the fate of not only said universe, but several others. On such occasions, she had managed to save those universes, at minimal cost. Of course, one time that cost had resulted in her having to cause the death of that universe's version of Robin…

_Stop that. You promised yourself you would never think about that, remember? You saved billions of lives that day. He had become evil. You couldn't save him and everyone else…_

Anyway, the point was that the Void owed her some major karmic points.

_You owe me, big time,_ she thought at it. _I died because of you. Twice! And I've been keeping the balance for you for three years. _

There was a sense of a sigh, a sort of, "oh, it's you. what do _you_ want?"

_Benefits. A body, an ordinary body, isn't quite enough. I want to fly, and I want to breathe underwater. And I keep the ability to manufacture items at will._

There was another 'sigh'. This time, there was a definite sense of impatience. "is that all?" it seemed to ask.

She considered it. _Yes._

A sense of commitment, like the signing of a contract.

_Thank you._

She opened her eyes and looked at herself again. On the surface, nothing was different. She supposed that she would just have to hope the Void kept its 'promise', if such an entity could make a promise.

Now would be the most delicate part of the process. She would have to transfer her consciousness to her new body. In order to do that, she would have to send her current form into the Void. It was little more than a collection of loose molecules held together by sheer willpower, but she could not afford to transfer her mind slowly. Having two different 'bodies' of hers, both with parts of the same mind, could have the potential to tear this world apart. An instantaneous mental transfer between bodies had the potential to destroy her psyche, and could create duplicates and problems. She would have to place this body in the Void to be disposed of, and transfer her conscious as quickly as she could so she wouldn't be taken away. For that to happen…

Nightwalker stood and walked over to the wall, where she gently placed her hand on the shield Raven had erected. She checked quickly to make sure Raven wasn't meditating or in the middle of a fight, then asked her, _Raven?_

Raven was reading a poetry collection in the main room. She put it down when she heard the thought. _Nightwalker?_

_Hello. Listen, I have a delicate situation here. I'm close to working everything out, but in order to finish, I need to get into the Void. Can you take down your shield?_

_Yes. Just give me a minute to get up there._ Raven closed her book and swept up the stairs to her room. _It's been twenty-two hours. We're having trouble keeping Beast Boy from doing something stupid._

_Thank you. I just need three more hours or so. But don't let Beast Boy come in first._ A pause. _Raven, while you were bringing me here…did you see anything? In my mind?_

_Yes. Some of it…_

_I can explain it later. Just…please, don't tell anyone. There are things in there I wouldn't share with my worst enemy, much less new friends. I'm sorry you had to see them._

_I've seen things that are almost as bad, honestly. I'm here. Anything you want to say before I take this down?_

_If I haven't surfaced in five hours, I won't be coming out at all. If that happens, tell Robin that I'm sorry. Oh, and you'll find a perfectly good body in there. Cover it up and give it to a coma patient. Just keep an eye on them after that to make sure they don't suddenly take a walk in the Void._

_Um, okay. Good luck._ Raven placed her hand on the protections and took them down.

Nightwalker took a deep breath and closed her eyes. For what she hoped was the last time, she released her control over this body and let it slip into the Void. She slowly and carefully severed her mind from the fragmented body she no longer needed, releasing it to disintegrate in the Void. If she didn't get her mind across to her new form quickly, she might be lost in here forever.

This would be hard. Nightwalker had never attempted to force her spirit, without any kind of body at all, across dimensions. She couldn't even bond a temporary one together without encountering the same difficulty that was forcing her to do this.

She reached out, questing with her mind to try and find the psychic trace she had planted on her body. She had a limited timeframe as it was. Eventually, the Void would drag her mind off who-knows-where. She couldn't afford the loss of time that would happen if she was dragged off to a different dimension.

Nightwalker found the spot that she was fairly certain led to the dimension she wanted to reach. This suspicion was confirmed when she detected a psychic marker that she knew had to be the fedora. Even with her essence mostly withdrawn from it, it still had a powerful empathic connection. As long as she was tracking that, she was less likely to wind up on Mars or somewhere.

She searched around that spot, trying to find a place where the Void was closer to the surface than usual. Such a place would be the best location to push through. Feeling the Void tug on her molecules, she quickened her search until she found an area that suited her needs and slipped through.

It turned out to be an area on the beach directly outside Titan's Tower. Since it was night, no one noticed a faint haze drifting in the air. She moved away from the cold spot as quickly as she could, trying to keep her thoughts from being sucked back into the Void. She floated up to a window on what she thought was the floor where Raven's room was. Going through a window, she found herself on a hallway that looked slightly familiar, or as much as it could since she had only seen it through Raven's and Robin's eyes.

Beast Boy was walking down the corridor, humming to himself. He stopped outside a door that was midway down the hall and put his eye to the crack, trying to peer inside.

_This must be my stop._

Nightwalker swept past Beast Boy in a cloud of molecules, passing through the door. As he felt her brush by, he jumped back and shivered all over.

"OooooOooOooOoohhhh," he said, shuddering. "Maybe a bad idea."

_You think?_ She thought, somewhat sarcastically.

"Aaaah!" he yelled, and ran off down the hallway.

_Oops, _she thought guiltily. _Must be unconsciously projecting. Still, if it keeps him out of my way…_

She moved inside. The Void body she had created was floating there, blank inside, waiting for a mind. Nightwalker slowly approached it.

_Once I do this, I can't go back. I will be bound to this body. If it doesn't work, I will be trapped in this dimension forever. If it goes too badly wrong, I could lose myself._

She mentally gritted her 'teeth.' _I've come too far to turn back now._ Forcing her essence close to the body, she surrounded the head and thrust her soul into the empty space where it should be.

The world seemed to come together with a loud, bone-jarring _SNAP._ For the first time in almost four years, Nightwalker fell into a whole, healthy, real body. She let out a scream as her essence spread to the tips and stopped at the layer of insulation she had created to keep herself from being sucked into the Void again. Thankfully, it worked. The body stabilized and held, and her spirit settled in. Nightwalker collapsed in a heap on the floor as the energy patterns within and around her swirled and stabilized. It would take several more hours for her body to settle down completely, and she could already feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. Before she went, she summoned up enough energy to create a blanket to cover herself and a sign reading _Not Dead._ Just in case Raven came back and took her suggestion seriously.

For once, the darkness that swam up from behind her eyes to embrace her was a welcome sensation. Nightwalker let it sweep her away as the healing process began.

**(A/N: I know, I know. This chapter was long and boring and not much happened. I wanted to write this part to try and explain more of Nightwalker's past and abilities, and also what the Void is like. I might do more stories on the things that have happened to her in the three-year interval, but I don't know yet. If you've made it this far into the story, could you take a quick moment and just review? Stuff you liked, stuff you didn't, what you want more of, what you want less of. Thanks!)**


	9. Meeting the Titans

Nightwalker slowly woke up. For the first time in months, she woke up in a real bed. There was a fluffy duvet over her, and for a moment, she had no memory of how she wound up here.

Then the past few days came back to her, and she sat up. Just in time, she remembered the fact that she had covered herself with a blanket for a reason, and grabbed it before it could fall.

She was in what was evidently a guest room. The bed she was lying in was round, and it sat up against a white-painted wall, across from a large window with a view of the open ocean. A closet was on her left side, a door leading into a bathroom on the right. There was an armchair and small table in front of the window. No one else was in sight.

Nightwalker let out a long sigh, full of too many emotions to express any other way. Relief, of course. A sense of loss for all the freedom that was no longer hers. A hint of worry over what would happen next.

But mostly, just relief.

She realized that she was also something she had not been in a long time.

Hungry.

What better time to see if she still had her abilities?

She held out her hand, letting bits of invisible Void essence pool into it. She impressed a memory on it of her preferred clothes, and watched them take shape in her hands.

Twenty minutes later, she was freshly showered, dressed in a black turtleneck and slacks, and had her medium-length hair pulled back into a casual ponytail at the base of her neck. Her new trenchcoat (another shade of deep blue) and old fedora were hung over the back of the chair. As everything seemed to be in order, she seized the opportunity to go looking for some breakfast.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were engaged in another argument over tofu waffles. Robin was ignoring them and checking something on his computer. Starfire and Raven were meditating in the corner. Well, Raven was meditating. Starfire was fidgeting and watching the argument over breakfast. She was the first one to see Nightwalker come in.

"Oh!" she gasped. "You are awake!" Starfire flew over as quickly as she could, scattering the papers next to Robin. As she came barreling at Nightwalker, instinct took over, and Nightwalker suddenly found herself floating fifteen feet above the floor.

"Sorry," she said, coming back down. "Nervous reflexes." Nightwalker took a look around. "Did Kid Flash leave already?"

There was a _whoosh_ and he ran up behind her. "Nope. Not yet. I wanted to wait till you got up."

She saw Robin coming up behind Starfire. He grinned and mouthed the words _show-off_ at Nightwalker.

"Now that's pot calling kettle black," she muttered, just loud enough for Robin to hear her. "Speaking of pots and kettles, is there anything to eat?"

Raven drifted over. "We already ate, and they'll be a while," she said, gesturing at first the four of them and then at Cyborg and Beast Boy, who had just realized that she had come in.

"Morning!" Cyborg called. "Want some bacon?"

"_Dude!_" Beast Boy said. "How many times do I have to tell you? No bacon! Vegetarian over here!"

Nightwalker wandered over and examined both of them, checking against her memory. "Garfield…Logan, right?" she asked, studying Beast Boy.

His eyes widened and he stared at her. So did Cyborg. "H-how d-did you know that?" Beast Boy stammered.

"I've been a _lot_ of places," she said, nonchalantly opening the fridge. "I've met few different versions of people. Except for you two," she added, gesturing at Starfire and Raven. "Never made it to Tamaran, though, so there's probably more of you I haven't met. But Azarath is unique. The monks blocked it off so it doesn't exist in any other dimension or universe."

"So, do you know my name?" Kid Flash was suddenly leaning on the counter next to her.

Nightwalker pulled a long baguette and a brick of cheddar out of the fridge. "Wally West. Got any knives?"

He stared at her, almost falling off the counter. "Okay, that's creepy," he said.

Nightwalker grinned. "Sorry. Not trying to scare anyone. Again, bread knife?"

Cyborg opened a drawer next to him and handed it to her. "Knock yourself out. Could you guess me?"

She took the knife and studied him. "Do you want me to? You have the right to keep your name to yourself."

"Go ahead."

It took her a moment of thought. The last time she had met a version of him, not only had he looked very different, but it had also been a long time ago. "Victor Stone." She carried the knife over to the cutting board and started slicing. Her stomach let out a huge, very audible growl. Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. Haven't eaten in a while."

"How long is 'a while'?" Starfire asked.

"In this case? Two years."

Now everyone, even Raven, was staring. Nightwalker sighed. "Look, I was intangible half the time, and the rest, I was too nauseated from the Void to eat." She finished making herself a cheese sandwich, and took an enormous bite. "Oh, that's good." She sighed.

The sandwich was gone within two minutes, so she made another. Munching, she walked over to Robin. "So what are you working on?"

"I'm trying to find Slade," he said. "We've got Titans all over the world. Wherever he's gone, we should be able to track him down."

"If you do find him, I want to be included in the team that takes care of him," she said, grimly.

The rest of the team looked at her with a touch of nervousness at the venom in her tone. Raven sighed.

"The last thing we need is both of you obsessed with Slade," she said.

"I'm not obsessed." Nightwalker and Robin spoke at the same time. After exchanging a look, Nightwalker added, "Unfortunately, I doubt you'll find him. That bast—"

Robin cleared his throat, cutting off her sentence. She looked slightly embarrassed. "I mean, that basket case has the luck of a devil and twice as many brains. How long have you been tracking him? He gave the impression that you had met before."

"We've been trying to find him for a year now," Raven said, when Robin wouldn't answer.

"Yo, little lady," Cyborg added. "Raven and Robin filled us in on how you got here. And not that we're not totally fine with having you around—I mean, we let this moocher hang out here—" this was accompanied by a gesture at Kid Flash, who looked indignant. "But what are you going to do here?"

"I think we're all just trying to get a handle on what your powers can do and what you plan on doing with them," Kid Flash said.

"Yes, are you going to become a Titan?" Starfire asked.

"It would be totally cool to have you around," Beast Boy added. Something occurred to him. "Hey, you know all our names—do you know Robin's?"

Robin momentarily froze, but Nightwalker said calmly, "He never told me. But I can tell you mine. It's Eve Ambula. Just don't spread it around."

Beast Boy looked slightly disappointed. "Oh."

"Actually, I need some time to think about what I want to do," Nightwalker told them. "I do have to tell you that I wouldn't be able to commit to the Titans full time. I'd help out whenever I was around, but I don't know how often that would be. I plan on continuing to visit different worlds. I want to try and see how many there are in this metaverse, maybe to try and make a list of the different universes and their dimensions."

"Dimensions and universes? And what's a metaverse?" Kid Flash asked.

"Reality is weird," Eve said. "There are different universes, which can contain several different dimensions. So Azarath is a dimension of this universe. Dimensions are fairly easy to move between, since there's only a thin layer of the Void between them. Then there are parallel universe, which can have dimensions of their own. Parallel universes are created by big events, so not every little decision you make will create another. There are events in history which are, well, 'fixed.' Changing them will change the world entirely. Worlds that are fairly similar have split more recently in their timestream. It's in a few of these worlds that I met you," she added to the others. "That's how I learned your names. Another similarity in universes is that the same people tend to live there. All the parallel universes together make up a metaverse. Metaverses are created when a set of parallel universes has become so dissimilar that they split off in order to maintain both their integrity and the integrity of the parallels. I'm originally from a parallel universe that split off to become another metaverse—_after_ I made it here. Metaverses sometimes block themselves off to protect from outside interference unless they're forced open. I move with the Void, not against it, so unless it's making them accessible, I don't have the power to break into metaverses on my own. That's why I'm locked out of my home dimension. I'm also the only 'me' there is in this metaverse, since one of the factors causing metaverses to split off is when there aren't any of the same people as in other universes living in them." While she had been talking, Starfire had become distracted, Cyborg had gone back to cooking breakfast, and Beast Boy was staring at her, vacant-eyed and drooling. Only Kid Flash, Robin, and Raven were still paying attention.

"Well, that's interesting," Kid Flash said. "We know a guy, Herald, who can open portals in space and cross dimensions with a trumpet."

"Wait—a trumpet?" Nightwalker asked. "Was it silver?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Holy crap," she said. She collapsed in a chair. "I thought it was just a story. So it really exists…"

"What does?" Robin asked.

Nightwalker shook her head. "One, if he hasn't told you, I'm not going to betray his secrets. Two, there are so many stories about a particular trumpet that's supposed to be able to open rifts in space that I don't know which is real and he probably gets tired of having such stories spread around. Three, it's his business."

"Well, would you like to meet him?" Raven asked, checking a computer screen as it beeped.

"Wouldn't it be rather hard to reach him?" Nightwalker asked.

"Normally, yes. But almost all the Titans from around the world—and beyond—are going to be converging on the Tower within a week. Cyborg, Robin, and Kid Flash have been developing new communicators that can't be hacked by anyone, even if they have one of their own. It was the disaster with the Brotherhood of Evil that decided it. Herald should show, and you two can compare notes," Raven said, returning her attention to the screen. Robin pulled up another computer and checked it as well.

"The Titans East are arriving within the next couple of days, and how long they stay will depend on whether or not they can bust one of the gangs causing problems within the next few days."

"Just like old times," Nightwalker remarked. "I'd love to meet the other Titans. Quick question—who are the Brotherhood of Evil, and what happened with the communicators?"

"You should probably ask Beast Boy. He knows the most about it," Robin told her.

She put a hand on his arm and initiated a psychic link. _Robin—I can tell that something's wrong. You're still carrying trauma from whatever happened with the Brotherhood. And trauma is an enemy. It will eat away at you until it destroys your mind._

_I failed, Night. I failed, and everyone else paid the price. I can't be weak. I won't._

_It's not weak to confide in a friend, Robin._ Nightwalker's gray eyes were gentle, for once not dancing with amusement or sharp with a reproach. _Come to my room later. I can help you._

Before he could protest that he didn't need help, her grip tightened. _Robin, either you come to my room later so we can talk, or I knock you unconscious and we have this discussion in your dream._

Robin sighed and pulled away. "Okay, I'll come talk to you. Happy?"

"I'm never happy," she said, putting on a fake serious face. It quickly softened, however. _Yes. Thank you, Dick._

_So you did find out._

_I assume you didn't want Beast Boy to know. I'll see you later._ With that, Nightwalker went over to shake Beast Boy out of his stupor and interrogate him.

Robin sighed, and opened up a file to check if there were any new messages from any of the Titans. While having his old friend back was great, having someone who knew him so well, no matter what smokescreen he tried to throw up, was a little unnerving.

**(A/N: So, what do you think? I have no real plot twists or a steady plotline up ahead at this point, so I'm open to suggestions. I could stretch it out for a while, or cut it off after a couple more chapters. I have a few more stories in mind for Nightwalker-her ability to walk between universes makes her perfect for crossovers. I know this chapter was also kind of long and actionless, but again, I wanted to establish some background and where she fits in with the Titans. I'm considering writing a relationship for N. with Aqualad, but again, I'd like to know what you think. Please review!)**


	10. Therapy

Much later, after everyone else was in their rooms, Robin got off of the computer and walked down the hall. The guest room they had given Nightwalker was fairly far from anyone else's. If she was still as sensitive as she used to be, being around people too much would be tiring.

He stopped outside the door and took a deep breath, then released it. _No stalling, Robin, _he told himself. He knocked quietly.

"Come in," a voice called. He opened it and walked in to see Nightwalker sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"Hello, Dick," Nightwalker said. She gestured at the padded chair across from where she was sitting. He walked over to take a seat, and the fist thing out of his mouth was something that had been bugging him all day.

"You knew their names."

She raised an eyebrow. "Clarify, please?"

"The other Titans. You knew their names already. And you knew who Slade was. How?"

"I've been pulled between dimensions for a long time, Dick. And everywhere I go, at least in this metaverse, I'm drawn to you."

"What?"

"You were the first person I saw, the first person I spoke to, and the first person I made skin contact with. I'm connected to you, Dick. It's like there's a permanent psychic tracer linking me to you. I'm linked with you in a strange way. Your dreams were like a beacon for me when I was lost in the Void. I saw them through your eyes. I've seen your nightmares, Dick. That's where I learned your name."

Robin sat there for a moment, shocked. "You mean…"

She sighed. "I haven't seen all of your dreams. Just some of them, over intermittent periods of time. And I'm sorry, Dick. I know it's invasive. I didn't try to view them. I was sucked in."

"So…you have some idea of what it's like to be me."

"In a small way, yes. Except, Dick—"

"Don't call me that."

Nightwalker raised an eyebrow. "Why shouldn't I use your name? What I was going to say is that I want to apologize for any intrusion, accidental or otherwise. And I want to make the offer to erase the memories from my mind. I have enough telepathic ability that I can do that. I'll be vaguely aware that I saw some of your nightmares, but I will not remember any details."

"You would do that?"

"You're my friend, Dick." The eyeslits of his mask narrowed, but he let it slide. "And you know how paranoid I am about telepaths. I would never feel right if I didn't make you this offer."

Robin sat there for a moment, thinking. "If it's all right…I'd like you to keep them." Strangely, he did. He wanted to have someone who understood some of what he was like.

"Dick, I'm going to let this offer stand. If you ever change your mind, I will still do this for you."

"Thanks."

"And now for a new topic." Nightwalker placed her palms together and stared at him. "What happened with the Brotherhood of Evil?"

"I thought Beast Boy told you," Robin said.

"He told me his side of the story. I want to hear yours."

Robin closed his eyes. He didn't want to talk about it, but he knew that she could sit there forever, waiting for him to talk. "It started with a communicator," he said, softly. "I went looking for Hot Spot, but I didn't know that Madame Rouge had replaced him. I gave her a communicator after 'Hot Spot' broke his. It was all the Brotherhood of Evil was after. They needed a way to tap into our communications and know what we were saying. That's when everything started to go wrong. All of a sudden, missions got harder. The Brotherhood was there at every turn. Eventually, they made their biggest move.

"They tracked down Titans across the globe, kidnapping as many as they could. Including me." Robin's mouth had a bitter twist at these words. "I shut down the communicators so they couldn't spy anymore, but they caught me right after that. I was taken to the Brotherhood's base in Paris."

As he talked, Nightwalker sent out a gentle empathic 'touch,' trying to understand how he was feeling about this. Robin was trying to be professional and lock down his emotions, but he couldn't do it forever. It all came spilling out as the story progressed.

"They were freezing the other Titans, one by one. They made me watch, then froze me last."

Nightwalker listened to the story, only giving it half of her attention as she monitored his emotional state.

_Humiliation, failure, disgust, fury…self-loathing?_ That last was bad, though not uncommon among people who had been through trauma. There was always a feeling that they should have done something to prevent it, even if they couldn't. It was made even worse by the fact that he felt it was weak to be feeling humiliated. The self-loathing was increased by the very fact that he was feeling it. It fed upon itself, forming into downward spiral that would eventually reduce him to nothing. As he spoke, she started to blunt the self-loathing, cutting it off at its source, ending the vicious cycle. It became easier for Robin to talk, once that was off his chest. Once she had cut the cycle, leaving it to burn itself out, she cut off the disgust as well. Those two were the most dangerous. She could deal with them by talking to him. That would be healthier, as well, than burning them out of his mind.

"It was horrible. I was supposed to be the leader, but it was my mistake that ruined everything. If it hadn't been for Beast Boy, I would still be frozen. I'm a failure. I don't deserve to lead the Titans. I don't even deserve to be here."

Nightwalker sat in silence for a moment. Robin's emotional state was fragile at the moment, on the verge of shattering. Saying the wrong thing could damage his psyche for good.

"Robin," she said. "I want you to think about what I am going to say next." He looked up at her.

"If you hadn't been tricked into giving the communicator to Madame Rouge, what do you think would have happened? Would the Brotherhood have given up, just like that?"

Robin was silent for a moment. "No. No, they wouldn't have. They would have kept trying to get their hands on a communicator."

"And I have no doubt that they would have gotten their hands on one eventually. In the process, they would have undoubtedly gone after more Titans, and more of them would have gotten hurt. Were any of the Titans harmed?"

"…no."

"Are they all safe?"

"Yes."

"And how many members of the Brotherhood are down for the count right now?"

"Almost all of them."

"Did anyone at all die?"

"No."

"Why do you consider it a failure?"

Robin stood to go. "Never mind. I knew you wouldn't understand."

She grabbed his arm before he could go. "Wait, Dick. I'm sorry. That was dumb thing to say. And I know I don't understand, but I'm trying to. Will you help me?"

Robin stood there for a moment that seemed to last to long. As it did, Nightwalker worried. If he did decide to leave, she couldn't stop him, and he might never come back. But if he stayed…

It seemed like he was choosing to stay. He turned around and sat back down. "I consider it a failure because I think that I failed."

"Why do you feel like you failed?"

Robin looked away. "Because _he_ wouldn't have failed."

_Aye, there's the rub,_ she thought, ruefully quoting Hamlet. "He?" she asked, feigning innocence. Dick could dance around this subject forever, which wouldn't do either of them any good.

He glared at her, but she had practice tolerating his glares. She raised one eyebrow.

"Batman," he admitted.

"Ah," she said, leaning back. "You think _he_ would have been more suspicious of people he had worked with and trusted."

"Yes…No!"

"You think _he _would have been able to detect Madame Rouge the minute he saw her, even though she was disguised as said trusted teammate."

"Yes?" Robin said, feeling like it was the wrong answer.

"And you think _he_ would have somehow been able to, while disarmed and restrained, fight back against the entire brotherhood of Evil and their allies to somehow avoid being frozen?"

"Probably…not…"

_Finally_, she thought, sensing a breakthrough.

"Dick, I know that he was your mentor, but he's only human. And I don't mean that in the sense that he isn't a meta. Batman, like everyone else, has weaknesses. You can't hold him up as an invincible icon and expect to do the same thing as an ideal in your mind."

Robin didn't say anything.

"Have you even spoken to him over the past two years?"

His silence was all the answer she needed.

"If you refuse to allow him to dictate or influence your actions, why do you insist on trying to predict how he would judge them? Especially since you won't even talk to him and find out what he really thinks?"

Robin still did not speak. _Gotcha._

"You can't make me talk to him," Robin said calmly.

"Did I say I was going to? All I want to do is to make you stop judging yourself against impossible standards. How can you be you if you're trying too hard to push away from Batman to try and develop yourself?"

"What am I supposed to do?" he demanded in frustration.

"For now? Get some sleep. Think about what I said. Stop blaming yourself for the actions of villains. And live your life the way it should be lived. I can tell you right now that none of the other Titans blame you for what happened. So quit blaming yourself."

Robin was silent, but it was a thoughtful silence, not an angry one. "Thank you, Eve."

She smiled. "Good. Dick, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"Well…" he looked at the ground sheepishly. Nightwalker took a closer look. Was Dick Grayson actually _blushing_? "I was wondering…if maybe…you could give me some advice…about Starfire?"

It took a great deal of self-control to keep herself from laughing, but she managed it. "That would take a while. Shall we schedule another appointment?"

"You sound like a therapist."

"I'm seriously considering setting myself up as one. It would be quite handy for heroes. And my abilities help. Should I kidnap the others and practice analyzing them?"

"Please don't."

"You know I will."

"_Please_ don't."

"Not without their permission, at least. Goodnight, Dick. See you in the morning?"

"Sure. Goodnight, Eve."

**(A/N: Yet another long chapter, though I hope it was less boring. I like to imagine her psychoanalyzing Robin, especially since it seems to me like he would have had issues after the last few episodes. I think I might have made him a bit too OOC, though. So, yeah. More Titans will be introduced next chapter, unless I have an epiphany I want to work in. But that's highly unlikely. PLEASE REVIEW! I've had about one review so far, and while I don't want to bash my only reviewer, a one-word review of "Sexy" for the first chapter does not make any sense and isn't very helpful. So, yeah! R&R please!)**


	11. A Watery Encounter

Nightwalker woke up early the next morning out of habit. It still felt wonderful to be lying in a bed. Yawning, she checked outside to find that the sun had risen just above the horizon. The air was cool and clear, and she had enough time to do what she wanted.

Swim.

Ten minutes later, she was on the beach outside the tower. She had pulled up the security mainframe and hacked it to allow her access to the beach. Robin had taught her to hack when they were traveling together. She wasn't as good as him, but she was better than most. Good enough to turn off the alarms on the beach, anyway.

She draped her towel over one of the rocks and waded in. The water was chilly, but her new body was thankfully resistant to temperature changes. She actually wasn't that surprised. The Void was seriously weird, and changed often. It could be freezing cold or burning hot, sometimes at the same time. So the water temperature was no problem.

As the ground started to drop away beneath her feet, Nightwalker took a deep breath and submerged. When she couldn't hold her breath any longer, she inhaled a deep gulp of seawater.

Thankfully, it seemed as though the Void had kept its 'promise.' While she was inhaling the water of the bay, her body subsisted as easily as it had on dry land.

Nightwalker let out a laugh that caused a stream of bubbles and dove deeper, eager to explore. She found an underwater tunnel with steel doors set fifty feet down in the island, probably a project that Cyborg had done. Once she had explored the perimeter of Titan's island, she swam down to the bottom and headed slightly farter out to sea. Before long, it became deeper and darker. When it was too dark to see properly especially since there could be something sneaking up on her (She had seen a few schools of fish, but none of them had bothered her), Nightwalker turned around and swam back towards the island with steady strokes, keeping her legs together. When she was floating in the water about twenty feet below the surface, a shaft of morning sunlight shining down, she stopped and drifted for a moment, content to relax.

When a tap on her shoulder came, she was totally unprepared, and spun around, releasing some very choice words she had learned from a rather irritable Canadian mutant living in a particularly interesting metaverse. Of course, she had learned these words after accidentally appearing in his campsite, only to find herself with a set of dangerous metal claws at her throat…

Nightwalker scolded her mind back on topic and glared at the young man who had startled her. Fortunately for her reputation, the words had merely been rendered inaudible by a flurry of bubbles.

Drifting behind her was a young man, (though probably not a human, to be comfortable at this depth) with completely jet-black eyes, no pupil or iris, and hair of the same color drifting around his shoulders. He was dressed in a blue and black wetsuit with a faint pattern of scales on the torso. The unknown teen (she guessed he was around seventeen, about a year older than Robin and a year younger than herself) was also wearing skintight black gloves and boots. Since she had sensed him behind her, he had to be some sort of telepath. Meanwhile, he was studying her at the same time she was studying him.

Aqualad was surprised. This girl floating in front of him was clearly not Atlantean—she had no visible gills and he had never seen her before in his life, yet she had also clearly been underwater, and breathing, for some time. She was wearing a dark blue swimsuit and a pair of loose black yoga pants, and had a head of black hair that reached a few inches past her shoulders, just a bit longer than his. Her sharp gray eyes were scrutinizing him just as intensely as he was doing to her. Why was she in the bay outside the Tower? She did not feel like an enemy…

Nightwalker sent out a very light empathic touch. She sensed no malice coming from the boy, mostly surprise, amusement in the surprise, and a touch of suspicion. She held out her hand, wanting to initiate contact. When he took it, she opened up a psychic link.

_Hello. I'm Nightwalker. Who are you?_

He was gratifyingly not shocked by her presence in his mind. Definitely some sort of telepath.

_My name is Aqualad. I'm with Titans East. What are you doing here?_

She blinked. _Oh, you're here early! Where are the others? Raven said they weren't expecting you till tomorrow. I'm an old friend of Robin's. I'm staying at the tower for a while and thought I'd come out for a swim. Shall we continue this discussion on the surface? I'm afraid my telepathy is limited to physical contact, and it isn't exactly practical to drift here holding hands forever. _

Aqualad grinned at her. _After you._ He released her hand and gestured at the surface of the water. Nightwalker engaged her flight and used it to lift herself, thinking it would be a bit more dignified than kicking and flailing for purchase.

She broke the surface and inhaled a breath of cool air, slightly warmer now that the sun had gained some altitude. It took her lungs a moment to transition back to breathing air. Nightwalker kept her flight activated so as to not overtax herself by vigorously treading water. Aqualad surfaced next to her. He took a glance at her treading water, and suddenly a firm current came up under her, keeping her afloat.

"Thanks," she said. She coughed. Her already husky voice was worse from the salt water.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

She waved him off. "I'm fine. Just not used to breathing underwater yet. My first time. So where are the other Titans East?" she asked, changing the subject. She didn't want to go into her weird past just yet.

"Our ship had a breakdown over San Francisco Bay. I swam ahead to let you guys know we'd be there soon, since our communications were down. We pulled off a sting operation that allowed us to bust two of the gangs at once, so we came early and can stay for longer than we planned."

"Excellent. Seeing as it's only getting later in the day, would you like some breakfast?"

"Anything but fish."

"Sure. I'll meet you there."

Before Nightwalker could lift out of the water and fly away, Aqualad caught her wrist and grinned at her. "Not if I get there first."

She smirked at him. "Oh, you're on. Three…two…one…go!" She shot out of the water and flew towards the shore.

Aqualad was caught off guard for an instant, but months of training had taught him to think on his feet. He summoned up a fast wave and rode it towards shore, using a bodyboarding technique. As he came up under Nightwalker, he sent an extension of the wave up to soak her. She dropped about five feet in the air, spluttering, before speeding up and blasting through the back of the wave Aqualad was riding on to knock him off. The wave dissipated, and she pulled ahead, laughing. It was his turn to thrash around before summoning a current to thrust him forward and torpedoing out of the water to grab Nightwalker and haul her back down to the surface. They were both laughing and splashing each other when they finally made it back to shore.

"Aaah!" Nightwalker let out a small shriek as she left the water, only to be splashed again. "All right already, I'm out of the water! I surrender!" She scowled when she realized what else the splash had hit. "Was it really necessary to soak my towel? We aren't all as comfortable going around sopping wet, you know."

"Oh. Sorry." He looked sheepish. Suddenly, all the water ran out of her hair and clothes. The towel became dry as well.

Nightwalker looked at him in surprise. "Thanks. That was really considerate of you."

"It's nothing. Besides, you promised me breakfast. I figured it would be easier to get you to fulfill that promise if you weren't annoyed.

"Oh, thanks," she said, in a sarcastic tone of voice. "So, you up for having a conversation without trying to drown each other?"

"Sure. You first. How do you know Robin, and why haven't I ever met you before?"

I sighed. "To make a long story short, I'm a dimension jumper. I died twice, once in my original dimension, and once here after working with Robin for a while. Last week—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you _died_?"

"Yes, now pay attention. Dimension jumper, remember? The first time, by pure coincidence, I jumped my mind at the exact instant my body died. Second time, I tried to return my spirit to my body in an attempt to save a life. It didn't exactly work. I mean, I saved the person, but I wound up losing my grip on any dimension entirely for a couple of years. I made it here, and Raven helped me so I could get a body together. That was a couple of days ago. I was just seeing if I could really breathe water, which I apparently can. So…" we had been walking and were now at the door to the Tower. "You like pancakes?"

**A/N: To anyone who caught my X-men reference, you get double karmic points! Yeah, this chapter was slightly fluffy. I might write a relationship for these two, but I'd like some input. The Titans East should show up in the next chapter, and if there are any other Titans you want to see, I'll put them in as well. Review, please! That button wasn't toxic the last time I checked...**


	12. Old Wounds

**A/N: Hello! Thanks to all the lovely people reading this story. You have excellent taste. And thank you to eesanchez95 and Phil for reviewing. I had a snow day today, so I decided to update. This chapter will have some dark stuff from N's past in it. You might want to kill me at the end, though. Fair warning.  
**

Robin was up and dressed and doing a quick runthrough of the security systems like he did most mornings, trying to make sure they hadn't been messed with. He frowned when he checked the security for the island. Someone had hacked the system and turned off the monitors on the beach for an hour. There was a small tag next to it, and he investigated. It turned out to be a vocal recording.

"Robin—it's Nightwalker. Woke up early this morning and wanted a swim, so I turned the beach tech off for an hour. Apologies for hacking the systems, but I didn't want to set off whatever booby traps you have there. I'm done now, so they're back on. Oh, and Aqualad's here. He says that the rest of Titans East should be here soon. I'm going to make breakfast. See you eventually, hopefully after you get this message." It shut off after that.

He sighed and returned to scanning the security measures for the rest of the Tower. Aside from the—_incident—_on the beach, everything was secure. Robin closed down the holo-screen and headed down to breakfast.

Nightwalker was sitting at the counter in a loose t-shirt and black pants, talking with Aqualad, who was washing dishes. Beast Boy was working his way through a plate of pancakes, and Cyborg was updating security with an occasional glare at Nightwalker. Kid Flash was also eating pancakes, an even larger stack than Beast Boy's. Raven was reading on the couch and half-listening to the ongoing conversation, a small quirk to her lips. Starfire was petting Silkie and paying no attention at all. As Robin walked over, he caught the tail end of the story.

"So I'm stuck in this glass cage across from a lunatic in a horned helmet who spends half his time insisting that he's the prince of another dimension and the other half demanding that I kneel when a guy with an overcoat and eye patch walks up to my cell and tries to interrogate me. Keeps asking if I know something about his 'Avengers'. Doesn't exactly like being told no. Likes it even less after I walk up to him and start picking at all the little cracks in his armor. Damn, that guy had some serious anger management issues."

"How'd you get out of it?" Kid Flash asked, swallowing.

"Channeled a bit of Void energy to break the glass and walk out after he left. Turns out they had me on this floating aircraft carrier, so I jumped off. Wound up losing my grip and jumping between halfway to the ground. They're probably still scratching their heads over that one." She laughed.

"Did you meet any of us there?" Cyborg asked, fiddling with the controls.

Nightwalker shook her head. "Different metaverse. To put it bluntly, you didn't exist. Neither did any of the Justice League. Saw some sort-of heroes—a guy in a metal suit, another that was wearing the American flag, and one with long blond hair and a hammer. Not sure how good they were. Only stuck around for a day or so."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked.

"Weird situations I've managed to get myself into. Not my idea."

"I was curious," Aqualad admitted. "She had already explained about the whole metaverses, universes, and dimensions thing."

"So, was that the weirdest universe you've been in?" Beast Boy asked.

Nightwalker considered the question for a moment. "Ummm…there's two of them, and they both have to do with reversal. There was one where everyone—and I mean _everyone—_talked backwards. So weird. I ended up having to write everything I wanted to say down to make a point, and even then, they had to read it in a mirror."

Even Raven grinned at that while everyone else laughed. "And the other one?" Robin asked.

She looked up at him and froze, her eyes locked on his before she looked away. "The other one isn't something I want to talk about," she muttered. "I'm just…gonna go to the roof and watch for Titans East." She got up and quickly left the room.

Robin stared at her rapidly retreating back. "Dude, what was that about?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know," Robin said, slowly. "I'll go talk to her." As he started to get up, Aqualad put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll do that. No offense, but I don't think she wants to see you right now."

Robin wanted to protest, but he knew Aqualad was right. He collapsed on a stool and watched the Atlantian leave the room.

**_(Look Mom, I'm a breakline!)_**

Nightwalker sat on the edge of the roof, holding her old fedora tightly in her hands. She honestly didn't remember going back to her room to grab it, but was glad she had. It was like a security blanket, and she needed one right now. She was barely aware of her surroundings, choking on memories she had tried to repress.

_Stupid Eve. You're supposed to be the smart one. How is locking away your worst memories supposed to help? You have to sleep now. And the nightmares will be back…_

"Shut UP!" she yelled. But it was too late. Nightwalker had a view of her mind as a locked bookshelf in the very back corner broke open and flooded her mind. Even Simon cowered in his cage, too afraid to do anything.

_Flashes of dark rooms, too many to count. Voices overhead. It was too soon—too soon. Where am I? And how am I still alive?_

_My last memory was of seeing Robin holding me before I closed my eyes. Then there was nothing. Not even the comfortable space of nothingness that I sometimes saw in dreams. This was a terrifying, empty nothing. I pushed, trying to break free. Something gave, and I fell. I landed in a room, and the world went dark_

_There was a voice. I was too far gone—I couldn't hear the words. It was so familiar—almost as familiar as my own. But at the same time, it wasn't. It was cruel and cold. I drifted off, not hanging onto awareness any longer._

_When I came to, Robin was sitting there. He looked just like he had the last time I saw him._

_"Night?" he asked. His voice sounded strange._

_I groaned. There was a funny feeling in my head. "R-Robin?"_

_"Yeah, it's me, Eve. You didn't die like you thought you would. You just got really, really sick again. I took down Ra's and brought you to Gotham. You've been in chemotherapy for the past three months. You're okay now."_

_I groaned. "Why can't—remember—"_

_He moved over and awkwardly helped to lift me up. "You were unconscious the entire time. Are you okay now?"_

_"Where—'m I?"_

_"Like I said—Gotham. I reconciled with Batman. He got his friend Bruce to pay for your treatment."_

_I groaned again. I couldn't sense anything from his mind. I sat up, slowly, and tried to move a glass of water on a table in the corner with my mind. "My powers!"_

_"Um, yeah. J'onn thought that might be a side effect of the chemo. But if it's a choice between no powers or you dying, which would you rather have?" he asked._

_I blinked. This was all a bit much for me. The room swirled and became black._

_Over the next few weeks, I didn't get out of bed. I stayed in that same little room. Robin came every day. I told him all about my past, and he always listened patiently, but there was an expression on his face like he'd heard it all before._

_I didn't care. I was so glad to be alive, to be normal. I wanted to trust Robin. I told him everything. About how I had lied. How there had been people with powers in my world, but they were hated and feared. How I had hidden it my whole life. How I had been almost—glad—to die. _

_There were slips—sometimes he would be annoyed, would be angrier than he should be. Sometimes, when I tried to treat him like a little brother, or would ask to go outside, he would yell at me. I knew there had to be something wrong._

_Finally, I thought he trusted me. I started to leave the room, to walk around. I was in the Batcave—_the_ Batcave. All those years, after seeing stories on the news every day about people who were powered that were hated and feared, I would go home every day and surround myself in stories of heroes—people who were special and different, and who were celebrated for it. I never told Robin about that. The stories were totally different than what I was seeing now. _

_Except—there were a million little things that were off. Like the way I was never allowed to see a newspaper. Once, one was left out on the table, and I read it from cover to cover, but something wasn't right. The stories all seemed familiar, like I had seen them before._

_It was another month before I made it outside._

_What I saw was terrifying and weird beyond belief._

_The world was backwards. The sky was brown, the dirt was blue and so was the grass, the water was green. People looked the same as always, but the world was wrong._

_The news was also weird. It talked about Britain breaking away from the US, about a North and South China. It didn't take long to realize that I was in a different dimension._

_It also didn't take long to figure out that superheroes were reversed here too. The Joker…the Joker was a good guy. And Robin and Batman were two of the biggest criminals of all._

_I tried to run. I really did. But it didn't take long. Robin tracked me down, and it didn't take long to realize that the reason he had been so strange was that all of kindness, all of his patience had been a façade. An act._

_This Robin was unspeakably evil and cruel. He had hurt me. Not in too much of a physical way, no—he had known right where to hit me. After all, I had given him the ammunition. My emotions._

_The Martian Manhunter—also on the side of the demons—had been shutting down my powers. No flight, telekinesis, or generating objects. I hadn't learned about the Void yet, so I couldn't use it. Though later, I would learn that what I had was so unique and dangerous that I was the only one who could harness it, and no one else could completely shut it down._

_Manhunter had also gone through all of my memories while I had been catatonic the first week. Evil Robin had known just what to say and do to make me believe he had been telling the truth._

_Now, though, it was worse. Manhunter had restored my empathy, but he had twisted it. It fed back into itself, forcing me to feel all my own emotions ten times over. Every minute was an hour, every hour was a day, every day a week, every week an eternity. Evil Robin still knew what to say. His barbs hit home every time. I was losing my mind. Half the time I knew who he was. Half the time I thought he had been the first Robin I had met. And half the time (hey, I was losing my mind here) I thought he was my mother, my father, my brother, my girlfriend, my best friend. I didn't know who he was. _

_Sometimes Batman participated. He would come down and he would say things that were even worse. Although I could never decide who was worse—the man who was absolutely terrifying, or the boy who was and was not my best friend._

_I had no plan. I couldn't afford to have one. Manhunter was still scanning my mind on an irregular basis, which to be honest, affected me more than the verbal and emotional torture. I felt violated, deeply and in a very primal way. My mind had always been safe, and now it was not mine. I could not afford a single thought, a single primal instinct, without knowing it would be seen. All I knew is that I was waiting for something._

_That "something" came on a day when all three—Batman, Manhunter, and Robin, were there. I had developed the habit of not thinking ahead, merely reacting, in order to keep my mind safe from telepathic intrusion. So as soon as a plan occurred to me, I acted on it. _

_I grabbed all three of them, and said in a hollow, dead, voice, "NO MORE." Acting purely on instinct, I found the Void and moved into it, taking them with me. Once I was inside, I just…let them go._

_They disintegrated within moments. Part of me was glad they were gone. But a larger part was furious. How dare it be so easy for them. Make them suffer. Make them pay._

_I stayed in the Void for a while. The Void was a place of safety. I had never truly been here before. It could be dangerous, yes—very dangerous. But it was mine. It was an empty nothingness, and yet full of movement. Strong emotional ties from the various universes and dimensions gave a landscape and texture. And above all, it was safe. There was no one here who could hurt me. I was totally alone…_

_And I was safe. But I was in no means healthy._

_My body no longer required food or sleep. Manhunter had merely fooled my mind until I had learned the truth. Then, he had not bothered. So, physically, I no longer had the same needs. But mentally, I was broken. I was shattered._

_And I did not care._

**(A/N: So do you want to kill me? (dodges rotten tomato). I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I swear it's necessary. While she may have all these cool powers, not everywhere she's been is good. I wanted to establish that she's been through some serious crap, as well as the reason she can't handle telepaths. So what happened? How did she recover? Why am I so cruel to her? All will be revealed (Except the answer to the last question) in the next chapter. Hopefully. I'll try and get it up by Friday, or Saturday at the very latest (Hopefully). Reviews are always appreciated.**


	13. Healing, Then And Now

**Wheeeee! I got an update in early!**

**In other news, this story has had 765 views. Wow. Wonder if I can make it to a thousand by the end of February? (Hint, hint)**

**Last chapter was rather angsty. I don't know why I enjoy torturing this character, but I do. Oh, and kudos to anyone who caught my reference last chapter. I'm going to play a game called Spot the Reference! First person to review pointing out the reference in the chapter gets free imaginary cookies.**

**_000_**

_And I was safe. But I was in no means healthy._

_My body no longer required food or sleep. Manhunter had merely fooled my mind until I had learned the truth. Then, he had not bothered. So, physically, I no longer had the same needs. But mentally, I was broken. I was shattered._

_And I did not care._

_**000**_

_It had taken a long, long time before I was ready to leave. Time was not the same in the Void. It could have been years for all I know. And it wasn't easy._

_The first few—months? I wanted to die. I didn't want to live. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and die. People say that a lot, but I really meant it. And I tried to do that. But I couldn't. I just was incapable of dying._

_That was when I gave myself a good mental slap. I was supposed to be an empath. That didn't mean suppressing my emotions, or locking them down, or controlling them. It meant understanding them—knowing them, feeling them, and using them anyway._

_That was my first step towards recovery._

_It took a long time before I could completely understand myself, but I knew I had to._

_I was angry. Why was I angry?_

_I was angry at him. No…I was angry at myself. I was angry that I had been stupid enough to believe him. I was angry that I had let my guard down. I was furious at myself._

_How could I have been so stupid?_

_I wasn't just angry at that. I was angry at the way I handled it. I was angry that my mind had been invaded. I was especially angry that I had let it happen. Even though I knew that I couldn't have done anything, I was still sure that it was, in some way, my fault._

_I never wanted to trust anyone, ever again. Especially myself._

_And I was traumatized—deeply traumatized—by the whole ordeal. That took some time to get over. But time, I had plenty of._

_Then there were my feelings towards killing them. Yes, they were evil. But it was even worse than that. Just as the three of them had been incorruptible as heroes, so were they irredeemable as villains. Their world would be better off without them. It would be safer. It had the potential to become good. I knew that I could justify it as much as I wanted afterwards—I had dragged them into the Void in a moment of anger and hatred, when I wanted revenge, and nothing else. I had hoped that they would suffer. I had hoped that they would be stranded there until they died of starvation and dehydration. The fact that they hadn't made me feel cheated. I had wanted revenge, and I had not gotten satisfaction. That was my problem._

_I also knew that I could not trust myself. It was a good thing that I had not gotten the chance to exact my revenge. I would not have been able to stop myself if I had started. What was the line? "You die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Well, I had lived through dying a hero. Now it was time to prove the rest of the saying wrong._

_And I knew how to start. _

_As soon as I was strong in my emotional state, I knew what I had to do. I had to leave the Void, as I had named it. I had to find another dimension, and I had to try again._

_I couldn't be myself anymore. I had to be what I had been with the first Robin—Nightwalker, a distant, untouchable enigma with the power to vanish into thin air. I had to be on my guard. I couldn't afford to let anyone else into my mind and heart. My three captors were gone. Only the first Robin, the one I trusted the most, knew anything else about me, and that was my name. A name was harmless if you knew nothing about the person it was attached to. There were hundreds of names written down all over the place. Names needed stories to mean anything._

_So I found the way out of the Void, and the way back in, just for safety's sake. I wanted to be sure no one could ever hurt me again. I didn't need sleep, I didn't need food, I didn't need water. Even knocked unconscious, I would just return to the Void. I could go anywhere, do absolutely anything, and be totally safe._

_It was only when I was absolutely sure of that fact that I dared to venture out of the Void._

"Hey."

Nightwalker just about jumped off the roof at the sound of that soft voice. It shocked her out of her memory trance. In that moment, she wrestled her mind under control and stacked the "books" on the "table." She wasn't ready to deal with them yet, but she couldn't lock them away either.

_Stupid Eve. You never learn. Stop locking away your emotions. It never works._

"Are you okay?"

Nightwalker looked up to see Aqualad standing next to her. She raisedher hand to brush away the tears she had unconsciously been shedding.

"No, not really," she said, quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, gingerly sitting next to her.

"No, not really. But I probably need to."

After she didn't seem inclined to volunteer any more information, Aqualad leaned forward.

The question came after a wait, when she had begun to let her mind wander again. "Was it something to do with Robin?"

She jerked, caught off-guard, and lost her balance. He threw an arm around her to keep her from falling off the roof. Her breathing sped up, and her mind started falling back to the months of mental torture. She was going into a panic attack.

"Nononononononononono…." She muttered, far too quickly. "No. No. No. No. NO. NOOOOO."

"Hey, hey, hey, its okay," Aqualad said, holding onto her. "I gotcha. I gotcha. Take a deep breath. And another."

Nightwalker's frantic panting began to slow, then steady, until her breaths were even. She carefully unclenched her fingers from the hat and set it behind her, the started to shake with sobs. Aqualad continued to hold onto her until she had cried herself out.

Eventually, she had no more tears left to shed, and quieted, just leaning into him.

"Are you okay now?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'll be fine in a minute. I change moods quickly," she muttered.

He was consciously projecting calm and soothing emotions at her right now. Nightwalker drew on that, using it to lend her strength. Eventually, she felt ready to talk.

"After I…died…I lost consciousness for a while. When I woke up, I was in a different dimension, but I didn't know that. It was a reverse dimension, and all the heroes were evil. But again, I didn't know that. Robin—an evil version of him—was there. He had the Martian Manhunter—also evil—scan my mind when I first got there and induce unconsciousness. They knew everything about me, even things I had never told anyone else. He pretended that he was the Robin I had known for six months. I didn't figure it out until I managed to get outside. Once I did, it was painfully obvious. After that…there was no more reason for them to keep me in the dark. They started to torture me."

When Aqualad tensed up, she was quick to reassure him. "Not physically—at least, not too much. Mostly it was verbal. And—Manhunter had been blocking my powers ever since I had gotten there. He continued to block everything—except my empathy. And that he twisted and turned back on itself, so I all I could sense were my own negative emotions. And those, I felt a dozen times over. They had been inside my mind. All three of them—Evil Batman as well—knew just what to say to make me hurt the most. I don't know how long they had me there. I lost all track of time. I was going insane, losing my mind. I couldn't even take a break to form some kind of escape plan or even collect my mind. Manhunter scanned my mind intermittently. I couldn't have a single thought or emotion without him knowing it. My own mind…was tearing itself apart. And I couldn't do _anything_ about it."

There was a long silence on the roof. Nightwalker shifted herself out of Aqualad's grip. Her mercurial nature had already caused her emotions to completely deaden themselves temporarily. She wasn't about to have another panic attack.

"So how did you get away?" Aqualad asked, quietly.

"Like I said, I couldn't plan without being discovered. So I didn't. I just knew that I was waiting for something. That 'something' came on a day when all three of them were there, tormenting me. When they were off-guard, I grabbed all three of them. That was the first time I ever walked in the Void. I brought them with me. When we were all inside…I let them go. They disintegrated."

Aqualad was silent for a long moment. "You must have felt terrible over that."

Nightwalker snapped her head around. "But I _wasn't._ I was angry. I wanted them to suffer. I still do." _Oh, crap, did I really just say that?_ She buried her face in her hands and waited for him to condemn her.

But he didn't. He moved closer. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity."

"I know. I'm still going to feel it." Aqualad was silent again. "How did you recover?"

"It took a long time. I dealt with my emotions—or I thought I did. I guess I just dealt with them enough so that I could lock them away. They all came bursting out downstairs. It'll take some time for me to deal with them completely. After that, though, it was mostly a matter of time and experience to reassure myself that it wasn't the norm, and I wasn't going to screw up every time. The final catalyst came when a telepath I met in another metaverse, called Professor X, helped me construct a false set of memories that will come up if a telepath ever attempts to probe me. It took a long time for me to trust telepaths again before that, or even be around them. I definitely had a phobia. The Professor is one of the few truly and deeply _good_ people I have ever met. Without him…" she trailed off.

"There's something I lied to Robin about. When I first started moving between dimensions, I was much more stable. As time went by, I started to lose my grip. I just couldn't care anymore. It got harder and harder to hang onto individual dimensions. If I hadn't wound up back here. I think that eventually, I would never have left the Void." She looked up at the sky to see that it had been at lest an hour since she had come up here. Nightwalker turned to Aqualad, venom in her eyes.

"If you _ever,_" she said, in a soft, dangerous voice. "Tell _anyone_ about this, especially Robin, I will send you nightmares of the Sahara desert or the rest of your life."

He held up his hands. "I won't. I promise. Just…please promise me you'll deal with it. I don't want to see you going through a panic attack again."

Nightwalker was going to make a biting remark—something about her having attacks out of sight from now on—when she caught the emotion radiating off him.

Genuine concern. And care.

"Um…thanks," she said, surprised, not sure of what else to say.

Fortunately, she was saved from having to say anything by the appearance of the T-ship for Titans East. There was a _whoosh,_ and Kid Flash was suddenly standing next to her, grinning up at it.

"About time," he said. "Come on, I want you to meet Jinx." He dragged her forward before she could protest, shooting a _Help me!_ glance back over her shoulder at Aqualad. He just grinned and picked up her fedora, waving it at her before heading back into the Tower.

Nightwalker sighed as she stared up at the descending ship. _Let the Titans conference begin._

**A/N: So there you have it! The thirteenth chapter. I don't know how long this is going to be, but I don't plan on running it above 20 chapters, if that. Afterwards, who knows? Like I said, crossovers. I really want to do a Young Justice one, or maybe two. One taking place in the five-year interval, and one after Season 2. Though if anyone is looking for a good season 3, I'm really liking Young Justice: War, by sonicking2004. **

**Apologies for any OOC-ness, especially on Aqualad's part.**

**Reviews are always welcome!**


	14. A Lunch Date (Sort of)

**Gosh, I'm having such a productive day. For those of you who are curious or for some reason actually like my writing (Bless you all!), I have posted another story, so far just a one-shot, involving NW meeting the 10th Doctor. It's called the Girl in the Fedora for anyone who's interested. **

**On another note, this story has had 976 views! YAY! Not quite a thousand, but pretty darn close. Thank you all!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It had been a week since Titans East had arrived. Since then, other Titans from around the world had been coming in, but there was still no sign of Herald. Since Nightwalker hadn't wanted to explain her story over and over again, she had filled in the rest of Titans East, and then asked them to keep it quiet. From there, she was introduced to everyone else as a friend of Robin's with the ability to move out of the world. That was how she explained her flying, short trips through the Void to use as teleports, and breathing underwater.

She had been swimming with Aqualad every morning, which was one of the few things that had helped to keep her sane. That, and playing with the very young honorary Titans known as Melvin, Timmy, and Teether. She had always liked little kids.

Hanging out with Aqualad was definitely one of the better parts of her days. So far, their relationship had been completely platonic, and Nightwalker was happy to keep it that way. In her life, never really met a guy she had been strongly attracted to, and she was okay with that. Although she was pretty sure that Raven would knock her off the Tower if she tried to ask her on a date, so that option for her love life was out.

Robin had been too busy managing the other Titans and the extra security for the conference to talk to her all that much. It looked like what she had told Raven was true—Robin had built a new life for himself and there wasn't really a place for a sister in it. Nightwalker hadn't exactly expected that, so she wasn't too disappointed.

But being in he middle of all the—the _drama_ of dozens of teenage superheroes was definitely wearing on an empath who had spent most of the past three years in the company of few other people. She had tried talking to Raven about this, after finding that the other girl shared her abilities, but after the two compared notes, it had become evident that her abilities were off the scale compared to Raven's. Raven could maintain a low-level field at all times that allowed her to detect strong emotions, but detecting everything people around her were feeling required her total concentration. Nightwalker could sense what everyone around her was feeling, down to a mild annoyance (which lately, had been not at all mild from anyone) unless she was blocking it out. If she became immersed in the groups, then it required more of her concentration to block it out.

Then there was the training. Nightwalker had not been relying on keeping herself physically fit in the past, mostly due to the fact that trying to build up an insubstantial body would be time-consuming and mostly pointless. She was getting better at fighting, as much as she loathed it. Her reflexes had always been good, and she had kept herself in shape before losing her body, so it wasn't too terrible. The only real problem was that she wasn't suited to it.

A quote from one of her favorite movies occurred to her one day after battle training. _"A spy, not a soldier."_ That definitely described Nightwalker. While she would be willing to go in for a fight if she had no choice, she was an explorer and a diplomat by nature. Staying in one place for the rest of her life, caught in an endless cycle of rearresting supervillains who would just eventually break out again and try to do the same stupid things both simultaneously terrified her and bored her to tears. Of course, if she had a connection to the place, it might be different. Unfortunately, her old hometown, San Francisco, didn't really exist here.

Nightwalker knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to travel, and learn more about the different metaverses. She couldn't afford to be a Titan. Not to mention that staying around too many people would probably drive her to murder within another week.

She was on the roof (miraculously, one of the quietest areas of the Tower) pondering all of this when Robin came up behind her.

"Hey."

"Hey, Robin."

"So what are you doing up here?" he asked her, sitting next to her. She was wearing her trenchcoat and hat, and had a thoughtful look on her face as she stared out across the water.

"Thinking," she said.

"About what?"

"Things," she told him. "Robin…you know I can't stay."

She half expected him to protest, but he didn't. When she looked over at him, he was nodding.

"I thought it might be like this," he said, softly. "You've been jumpy every time I've seen you this last week. All the people?"

"All the people, and all the idiot criminals, and the fact that I'm starting to feel trapped." She looked at Robin. "Dick, you've got a good thing going here. You've got a good life. It's just not a life I would do well in." She sighed. "I'm not a vigilante—I'm a traveler. A spy, not a soldier. If I have to fight, I will, and you can always call on me for help. But I can't do this for the rest of my life."

Robin was silent for a long moment. "Okay," was all he said.

"Okay?"

"Eve, if that's what you know you want to do, that's what you need to do. It's the same reason I formed the Teen Titans. It was something I had to do. Just…while you're gallivanting off through different universes, remember to come back to us sometimes, okay? Your room will always be waiting for you."

"Thanks," she said. She pulled Robin into a hug, startling him. She laughed and let go. "And you will always be my little brother in everything but blood."

"Little?" he asked, fixing his hair back into spikes.

"Hey, I'm still two years older than you."

"Yeah, but I could kick your butt."

"Oh, just try it. Actually, don't. I think you'd win, and losing to you in training is as much as I can take."

There was a beep from his communicator and Robin pulled it out, holding it in front of him. "Trouble," he said.

"What?"

"A bank robbery. Looks like—Dr. Light? Seriously?" Robin put the communicator back in his belt. It was one of the upgraded ones, linked with the computer interface, and designed so he got the alerts first. "I thought we took him down the last time all the Titans were in Jump City."

"Is he a lot of trouble?" Nightwalker asked.

"No, he's pretty much inept."

"Then how about we do it together? Once more? Just for old time's sake."

He grinned at her. "Sure."

Again without warning, just like the first time they had met, she grabbed him under the arms and took off. A few things were different this time. She was stronger, he was more experienced, and they had pulled this move many times before. Granted, it had been a while, but they both remembered.

Neither of them saw the Tamaranean girl lurking in the shadows with a broken heart.

**(Just your friendly neighborhood breakline, passing through)**

Starfire had been looking for Robin. With all the work he was doing, managing the conference of the Titans, she had not been able to see him as much as she would have liked. When she had seen that he was nowhere to be found downstairs, she had looked on the roof. He had been sitting there with the Nightwalker. Not wanting to interrupt, she had waited.

And then the two had hugged.

Robin, as far as she knew, did not hug people. Sometimes he hugged her when they kissed, but she had never seen him hug anyone else. But here he was, hugging this girl. This girl whom he had claimed was his friend.

After they broke apart, Starfire retreated even more into the shadows. She did not want to be seen. She watched them for a couple more minutes. When the Nightwalker picked Robin up and carried him away towards the city, Starfire turned around and ran back to her room. She wanted to be alone right now. Curling up on her bed with Silkie, she started to cry.

**(I'm just a breakline, happy little breakline…)**

Dr. Light had gone down within a minute of their arrival on the scene. While Robin had thrown a smoke birdarang at him to disorient him, Nightwalker had readied a wave of pure fear and thrown it at Dr. Light while he was coughing. He had started screaming about evil bunny rabbits, which was the cue for her to swoop in, grab him, and drop him off at Robin's feet to be tied up.

After that was done, since it hadn't taken very long, and since neither of them was very eager to return the chaos at the Tower, the two decided to go out for pizza. "You're buying, since I'm broke," Nightwalker informed Robin.

He had taken her to the Titan's favorite pizza place, where they split a pizza. For some reason Robin had never been able to fathom, Nightwalker had a serious aversion to any and all things even mildly spicy, including pepperoni, so they got chicken instead. Over pizza, he brought up a topic he had been wanting her advice on.

"So, Starfire…" he said.

"Ah," she said, munching on a slice of pizza. "Have you kissed her yet?"

"Night!" he said. He was slightly embarrassed at how frank she was being. "Well, yes."

"Good. I approve. She's a wonderful girl. She'll be good for you."

"And if you hadn't approved?" he asked, somewhat sarcastically.

"I would have kept my opinion to myself and allowed you to make your own choices," she told him, calmly.

"Oh."

"So what about Starfire?"

"It's just…I'm worried about her. I care about her. I don't want her to get hurt, and I don't want her to hate me."

Internally, Nightwalker sighed. She had never been the best at relationships. Might as well give this her best shot. She finished off her slice of pizza as she considered how best to phrase this.

"First things first. Working with her as a teammate. Robin, the thing you need to remember the most is that as soon as you all leave Titans Tower on a mission, she is not your girlfriend. She is a teammate, and you are the leader. You cannot give her easier or safer assignments just because you want to protect her. You can't treat her like she's fragile. Trust me when I say that's one of the fastest ways to piss off a strong girlfriend that I have ever encountered."

Robin looked at her oddly and she shrugged. "What? I've had a few relationships in my time."

"So," he said. "I have to treat her like just another teammate on missions."

"Yes. Outside of missions, though, pay some attention to her. Let her know that she matters to you just as much as a person as she does as a hero."

"Is it really that simple?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "It's harder to do than to say. But yeah, that's about it when you work with a person you're in a relationship with. Business is business, but outside of that you have to let the person know they matter—without treating them like they're incapable of taking care of themselves." Nightwalker checked her watch, which had been a gift from Cyborg. It was a miniature communicator, since she had told him she might not always be able to hang onto a larger one. It also kept excellent time, since it could sync with the nearest satellite to check. She had been very pleased by the thoughtfulness behind it. "It's been half an hour already. We should get back."

On their way out, Robin paid the tab, and they walked down to the harbor. When they reached the beach, she picked him up again and they flew out to the Tower, landing on the roof.

"If you want," Nightwalker offered as she set him down. "I can talk to Starfire about this. Offer her some advice, find out what she likes."

She had never seen Robin look so relieved before. "You would do that?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I hadn't meant it," she informed him tartly. "Do you want me to?"

"That would be great. Thank you."

As she turned to go back down the stairs, he called after her, "Are you sure you don't want to stay?"

Nightwalker sighed. "You know I can't, Dick. But that doesn't mean I can't visit, which I intend to do plenty of. Besides, I'm waiting to meet Herald before I leave."

He shrugged. "Worth a shot. See you later."

Nightwalker waved and descended into the Tower, heading for Starfire's room.

* * *

**So there you have it! Tiny bit of a cliffie. Will Nightwalker get blasted through the Tower by an angry Starfire? Tune in next Monday (Next chapter should be up by then) to find out!**

**Sorry for anyone who wanted to see more of the other Titans, but I feel like Nightwalker is rather introverted, and is more likely to focus on a small group of people, so that's how this story is written. Besides, I suck at group scenes. There's always that one person lurking awkwardly in the back who never says anything and is just there because I can't get rid of them.**

**Again, free imaginary cookies (or a review of your story) for the first person to review pointing out my reference. I'm a big Marvel fan, in case that wasn't obvious.**

**Disclaimer: I have never been in a relationship, so my advice probably sucks. Use it at your own risk.**

**Really hoping to get 1000 views and at least 5 reviews by the time the next chapter gets posted. So read, review, and enjoy!**


	15. Consolation

**Hello, all! This story has had 1044 views. Happy Dance!**

**Sadly, I still have only four reviews. Please review! It makes me very, very happy!**

**I promised that the chapter would be up by Monday, so here it is. **

Nightwalker reached the door to Starfire's room and frowned. Normally, the alien girl was happy and interested in everything, making it very soothing to be around her. But now…

Misery. Anger. Self-loathing. And a loathing for…

_Me? What did I do?_

She knocked on Starfire's door. "Starfire? Are you in there?"

There was no answer. She knocked again. "Starfire? Please, I know you're in there. I'm right out here for you. Just let me in…"

"Go away!" Starfire shouted. "I am not talking to you. You are worse than a zorg-munching clorbag!"

Nightwalker ducked as a blast of starbolts broke through the door to blast the other side of the hallway. Speedy was walking down the corridor. He stared at her in shock.

"Keep walking," she ordered, giving him her best death glare. Not even Robin was immune to that glare, and it worked this time as well. Discarding her coat and hat, Nightwalker climbed through the hole now conveniently located in the door.

Starfire was lying facedown across her bed. The curtains were shut, plunging the room into darkness. Silkie, Starfire's pet, was lying next to her, making comforting gurgling sounds.

As Nightwalker got closer to Starfire, her awareness became stronger. She got a mental image of Robin, and of herself and the Boy Wonder, sitting on the rooftop together, hugging.

Realizing what was wrong, Nightwalker sat on the bed next to Starfire and started to rub her back. Starfire didn't tense up under her touch, proving that no matter how mad she might be, she was mostly just upset and lonely, and needed to be comforted.

"Oh, honey," Nightwalker murmured, feeling very motherly. "Is that what you think is going on?" She projected soothing feelings at Starfire, carefully cutting off the self-loathing, just like she had done for Robin what seemed like ages ago.

"You—and Robin—" Starfire sobbed.

"Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry. I thought you knew…"

"Knew? Knew that you are a manipulative, odium gremplork?"

"No, no, it's not like that." Nightwalker opened up a connection to Starfire to try and explain what she was feeling, but the first thing that came up with Robin was…

"See! You feel the love for him!" Starfire shouted, sitting up. Her eyes started to glow.

Nightwalker kept herself calm, trying to project that calm at Starfire. "There are many ways to love someone, Starfire."

"But you do not love him as a friend!" Starfire yelled. Her hands started to glow as well, and it took all of Nightwalker's self-control not to drop herself out of the universe. She knew that doing that would mean she would never be able to set things right.

"That is true, Starfire," she said. Before the other girl could blast her into non-existence, she held up her hands and said, "I love him as a sister would."

"A—sister?" Starfire asked. The glow faded from her eyes and hands as she struggled to adjust to this idea.

"_Yes_," Nightwalker said, rather forcefully. Not that she had Starfire's attention, she could not afford to lose it. "Look…"

Nightwalker placed her hand on Starfire's, showing her the memories from the conversation she had with Robin on the rooftop.

_"Eve, if that's what you know you want to do, that's what you need to do. It's the same reason I formed the Teen Titans. It was something I had to do. Just…while you're gallivanting off through different universes, remember to come back to us sometimes, okay? Your room will always be waiting for you."_

_"Thanks," she said. She pulled Robin into a hug, startling him. She laughed and let go. "And you will always be my little brother in everything but blood."_

_"Little?" he asked, fixing his hair back into spikes._

_"Hey, I'm still two years older than you."_

_"Yeah, but I could kick your butt."_

_"Oh, just try it. Actually, don't. I think you'd win, and losing to you in training is as much as I can take."_

Starfire stared at Nightwalker as she received the memory. Once it had played out, she burst into tears and collapsed against Nightwalker, who held Starfire until she sobbed herself out.

Robin came by to investigate the reason part of Starfire's door was lying on the ground, smoking. After the sight of Starfire collapsed against her, sobbing, and another of Nightwalker's death glares, he decided to come back later.

After Starfire was calmer, which took plenty of both verbal and empathic soothing, the two girls settled in to talk, and Nightwalker explained about the trip she and Robin had taken to the city for lunch. She was sure to stress how he had wanted to ask her for advice on his relationship with Starfire.

"He really cares about you, Star," she said, gently. "And I think that's wonderful. Robin and I have never had that kind of relationship, and we never will."

"But you—and he—"

"We're good friends, Starfire, and have been since the day we met. I hope that we'll stay friends, but you never know what turns fate will take. I can't tell you how happy I am that he's made a place for himself here. It's a good place—it just isn't mine. I'm leaving soon, Starfire. I'll be back to visit, but I can't stay."

"You do not wish to be a Titan?" Starfire asked. "You are leaving?"

Nightwalker sighed, remembering what she had told Robin. "Starfire, all of you have a good thing going for you here, and you're all happy with your lives. I…wouldn't be. And believe me when I tell you an unhappy empath is something you never want to have to live with."

"But you do not wish to stay?"

"Not forever. I'm waiting for Herald to come so I can compare notes with him, but then, yes. I'll be traveling on. But…" Nightwalker gently touched a finger to Starfire's forehead. This was the first time she had tried this particular trick, though it was based off the odd bond she had with Robin. Finding Starfire's psyche, she implanted the trace of a psychic print, like a psychic telephone number. Before leaving, she showed Starfire how to use it. If she activated it right before she went to sleep with a key phrase and thought, and Nightwalker happened to be asleep at the same time, then no matter where the other girl was, she would be able to speak to and see Starfire in a dream.

"Oh!" Starfire said. "I see. This is good! This is very good!"

Nightwalker grinned as she cut the connection. "I'll establish the same with Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy. I already have something similar with Robin. Just don't—abuse it, alright? Only use it if it's an emergency. I should be able to contact you once a week or so, so you won't have to use it just to talk to me."

Starfire wrapped Nightwalker in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, friend Nightwalker!" she cried. "You are a wise and wonderful person!"

"Crushing…me…" Nightwalker gasped out. Fortunately, at that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Starfire let go to see who it was.

Robin was standing there. "Hey, Star. Er, Nightwalker, Herald just got here. You said you wanted to know when he arrived…"

"No, no, that's great. I'll be right down." A thought occurred to her. "Where are the others?"

"Most of the others have gone out for dinner. I didn't think you'd want pizza again."

Nightwalker grinned. "Perfect. Get in here."

"Ah…" he hesitated in front of the hole, so she walked over, stepped out, and shoved him inside. Before he could object, she picked up the broken chunk of door and used a bit of Void energy to fuse it back in place. Satisfied, she turned around and walked downstairs. She wanted to meet this mysterious Herald at last.

**Yeah...that chappy was short and boring. Sorry!** **But it's up on Monday, like I promised. I do not know when the next one will be up. If anyone has any ideas, please review and tell me, because I'm clueless at this point. There'll probably be either one or two more chapters, depending on how long the conversation between Nightwalker and Herald takes. Which could be fairly long if I decide to throw in a bunch of my crazy interdimensional science. **

**For anyone who's interested, the stuff Starfire says is direct quotes from the show.**

**Again, anyone who finds my weird reference will get free imaginary cookies. I watched Frozen again recently...**

**Thanks for reading! Review please!**


	16. Contingency Plans

**So YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY! I got over my writer's block and banged out this chapter in a boring Health class. It might be kinda crummy, but not having any chapters waiting to be posted helps me get off my lazy butt and write faster. Sure worked for this chapter.**

Herald was in the main room, which was mostly empty. The only other person in it was a snoozing Beast Boy. The boy in the cloak was looking through the music room when the doors slid open.

"Hello," a low, slightly husky voice said. He turned around to see a black-haired girl dressed in a trenchcoat and fedora standing there.

"Hello," he said. His voice was slightly raspy. She walked over and held out her hand.

"I'm Nightwalker. I've been hearing a lot about you."

"Robin was just telling me about you. So you travel between dimensions, like me?"

"Sort of. How much do you know about the shape of reality?"

"Well, I know that there are different dimensions for each universe, because I live in one. I also know that there are different parallel universes, but I can't reach them until they line up correctly for me to open a portal with my horn." He lifted it up and spun it in one hand.

"That's Gabriel's Horn, right?" she asked, looking at it.

"Uh, yeah. How do you know?"

Nightwalker raised an eyebrow at him. "Interdimensional travel, remember? And you yourself should know better than anyone else how far the stories about that thing spread. D'you wanna take this outside? Robin swears he hasn't bugged the place, but I don't believe him."

"Sure. Let's take the shortcut, though." He lifted the trumpet to his lips and blew. A circle radiated out from the bell, opening a round portal showing a view of the beach.

Nightwalker grinned at him. "Nice."

She stepped through. It was a surprisingly smooth trip—no displacement at all. She stepped out on the other side, her body completely unaware that she had done anything other to take a step. Her grin widened as Herald stepped through the portal. "_Very_ nice. I can't travel without dropping into the Void, scrambling my molecules, and almost throwing up."

"Well, you can move between universes, right?" he asked as we started to walk. "You can do stuff I can't. Which reminds me, how do you move between universes? I've never quite grasped how the horn works."

"Have you ever felt the nothingness between dimensions?" she asked him. "The stuff that's _there,_ lurking just under the skin of the world? I don't know if you have, because whatever you do with _that_ causes it to split for the portal."

"I have, actually. That stuff is dangerous."

"That's the Void. And in a way, it's the only home I have left. It's a long story involving dying twice and mind control."

"Sounds like one hell of a tale."

"D'you want to hear it?"

"Sure."

"Gosh, where to begin? Well, let's start with the name. Eve Ambula. Nice to meet you."

"Mal Duncan. Likewise."

"Anyway, there's more to reality than the different dimensions and universes. The universes are in 'sets', with the same people and roughly similar timelines. I call these sets metaverses…."

Half an hour later, Robin left Starfire's room, seriously annoyed with Eve. While it had been good to talk with Starfire, (although there hadn't been that much talking involved) he wished Eve had let him know what she planned to do.

He pulled up a computer and checked the feed from the main room. It showed Eve walking in and meeting Herald. He turned up the audio.

"_You should know better than anyone else about how far the stories about this thing spread. D'you wanna take this outside? Robin swears he hasn't bugged the place, but I don't believe him._"

Robin grinned. She was just as clever as he remembered. He watched as Herald opened a portal onto the beach and the two went through. _Probably there now._

His suspicions were confirmed when he left the Tower a minute later. The two of them were engaged in an earnest discussion. He caught the words "cross-dimensional special transference" before deciding that it might be a bad idea to join a conversation about an unrecognized type of science that only two people understood.

"Robin!" Eve called.

Too late. Robin walked over to the two of them.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Contingency plans," Herald told him.

"Contingency plans?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Eve asked. "Yes, contingency plans. The two of us can get into some deep crap in other dimensions. We're making plans in case we need backup or an emergency escape. We've also been talking about my departure in a couple of days. You know, locations, plans, maps."

"A couple of days?"

"Seriously, echo. Anyway, I have an idea. Consider this. Three months ago, with the Brotherhood of Evil, you were in way over your heads, right? So what would have happened if Beast Boy's plan had failed?"

"Nothing good," Herald said when Robin didn't speak. "So we want to set up channels of communication between heroes in other universes in case of emergency. That way, no matter what the villains do, there will always be others they can't get to."

"Unless they build portals," Robin pointed out.

"That's an excellent point. Which is also why we will be setting up 'watchdogs' on dimensional hotspots that would be the most likely place for crossovers to work. That way, we'll know if there's an unauthorized energy signature moving between worlds, and can check on it. If it's villainous, or even government activity, we'll stop it. For now, there are too many dangers associated with crossing worlds to let it become public knowledge."

"Which is why this is going to be top-secret," Herald informed Robin. "Just the Titans West and East will know about it. So you don't need to worry about mass crossovers between dimensions or universes anytime soon. If it happens, we can deal with it."

"And it probably is going to happen," Eve put in. "Think about it. For the first time in almost two thousand years, people are developing the ability to cross dimensions again. Yes, it's only us two so far, but that's a good sign that eventually, there will be more."

"And when that happens, you need to be ready to deal with it," Robin said. "So will you be working with the Titans?"

"Well, _someone _needs to fund us," Eve laughed. "Crossing dimensions isn't exactly a high-paying line of work. But yes, the two of us—me, mostly, because I don't have to worry about the universes slipping out of alignment too much—will be working with superheroes in the worlds where they exist. Mostly because they're the ones we can trust to be discreet, and because it will help us find other dimension crossers. Who knows? We might even have our own organization someday."

Robin looked from one to the other. "How are you going to communicate? I doubt that the usual tech will work."

Nightwalker and Herald exchanged looks. "Do you want to tell him?" she asked.

Herald shrugged. "Hey, it's your idea and your abilities that'll make it work."

"True." She turned to Robin with the grin on her face. "The answer's the same one it's been all along. Dreams. Even without slipping into the Void, dreaming allows the mind to roam freely, enough that there can be communication. I gave Star my psychic 'phone number', which should allow her to contact me if we're both asleep at the same time. You can do it anyway because I established a psychic link with you years ago."

"Are you going to bring Raven into this?" Robin asked. "After all, she can cross dimensions, too."

"She uses magic to cross dimensions," Herald explained. "While that's fine, using magic often upsets the balance. So while we want to bring her in on this, she wouldn't be able to use her abilities too much between universes without risking trapping one of us there. And she needs to know exactly where she's going. While that will be useful eventually, right now exploration is our primary objective."

"'To go where no man—or woman—has gone before,'" Nightwalker said, quirking her lips. It sounded like a quote.

"Wow," Robin said. "How much have I missed?"

"That's pretty much it," Herald said.

"And since we've been abandoned in favor of pizza, who's up for dinner?" Nightwalker asked, standing up and dusting off her coat.

"Sounds good," Robin said.

Herald put his horn to his lips and blew, opening another portal back to the kitchens.

"Show-off," Nightwalker said with a grin. "And thanks." She stepped through, startling Beast Boy, whose yelp was audible back on the beach. Robin laughed before following his friend through the portal.

**And now we get our first view of Eve's long-term plans. Once again, cookies for anyone who caught the reference. Sorry if Herald seems a little OOC, though I'm not sure how that's possible since he has a total of less than twenty lines. I have no idea what the story behind his horn is, honestly, though I did look up his Wikipedia entry from the comic books.**

**Special thanks to eesanchez95 for not only contributing several helpful ideas but also the motivation I needed to write this through several lovely reviews. Thanks!**

**Sorry if I offended anyone by cutting out most of H & N's conversation, but I figured most of it would just be her backstory ****_again_****, and I tried to cover the rest when they explained to Robin.**

**I do not know how many more chapters there will be. Either one or two. (I know that's what I said last time, but I might have an idea. Again.) I promise the next one will be up by the end of Thursday.**


	17. Goodbyes

**So this is the last chapter. I actually managed to get my lazy butt in gear and finish writing it. (Celebrates with cookies). Relax, there will be more...I'll just explain at the end, shall I? Enjoy!**

**Oh, and this thing has had 1,241 views. WOOT!**

Two days later, Nightwalker was standing in her room at around eight o'clock at night, packing her stuff into a knapsack. There wasn't all that much—just some extra clothes and protein bars in case of emergency. There were, however, a few very nice surprises to add.

The first was a copy of _The Count of Monte Cristo,_ one of her favorite books of all time. Special present from Raven after the two of them had compared notes on good stories.

The second was a flute, courtesy of Beast Boy, which was a surprisingly thoughtful gift and one she was sure that he had help picking out. She had a deep and abiding love of music that she didn't get to exercise nearly often enough. While the flute wasn't her favorite, it would be the easiest to transport and maintain.

She shouldered the bag and took one last look around the room. It was clean and tidied, but there was one new addition—a therapist's couch. She wasn't sure where that had come from, but it had been touching. It didn't look like it would be getting much use over the next few months, or however long it took her, but you never knew.

There was only one thing left to do.

Because she knew that anything could happen to her, she wanted to be prepared ahead of time for as many possible scenarios as she could conceive. Dick knew about most of them, but she hadn't dared to tell him about this.

Nightwalker pulled a manila envelope out of her pocket. It was fairly thick, given that it contained six separate documents. This was her last plan.

Nightwalker was realistic. She knew that there was a very viable option that she wouldn't come back at all from one of these missions. These letters were her goodbye. One to the Titans. One to Raven, who had become a good friend. One to Garth, which Aqualad had told her was his real name. And one to Robin.

The last two were for Herald. One that asked him to carry on their plans. And one she wanted him to deliver.

That one was for her parents. She had a feeling that once she died, the Void would stop being so uncooperative about opening access to her old world. She wanted them to know how sorry she was, and how much she missed them.

Walking over to her closet, Nightwalker pulled out the titanium briefcase she had swiped from Robin. The password was easy to guess—ZITKA, the name of the elephant from his old circus. She had never told Robin about how she had once visited a world where his parents had lived, and he had lived a good life growing up in Haly's Circus. She had a feeling it would hurt too much.

Well, now the password was WANDERER.

Nightwalker slipped the envelope in and closed the case before putting it back on her top shelf. Just in time for a knock to come at the door.

"Night?" Robin's voice called. "We know that you're heading out tonight, and I know you didn't want a big fuss, but some people wanted to say goodbye. We'll be on the roof."

"I'm coming out soon!" she called. "I'll see you up there in five minutes."

After checking her door one last time to make sure it was locked from the inside (Yes, Robin could hack the lock, but Beast Boy couldn't, and she wanted him as far away from her room as possible), she went out the window, shutting it firmly behind her and flying up to land on the roof.

Thankfully, someone (Garth, probably) had the good sense to stop someone else (Most likely BB) from organizing a good-bye party. If she had her druthers, she'd rather leave quietly in the middle of the night and be gone the next morning. Still, it looked like she would get to say good-bye to people.

On the roof, standing together, were Garth, Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Herald. She grinned, and landed next to them.

"What's this?" she asked, sensing furtive feelings coming from at least half of them.

"Just our way of saying goodbye," Cyborg said. "Were you looking for this?" he held up her watch, which had gone missing earlier that day.

"Yes!" she said, gratefully. She hadn't wanted to leave without it. When she took it, however, it felt noticeably heavier. "What did you do?"

"Same tech as Rob's holo-gloves," Cyborg told her. "Not as much storage, but it'll link to the nearest satellite to give you the date and time, as well as access to any open signals in the area. That was as much as I could do without more information on what you'll be dealing with."

Nightwalker strapped it on. Much to Cyborg's surprise, she gave him a hug. "It's great. Thank you!"

Starfire was the next one. Too impatient to wait any longer, she flew into Nightwalker and gave her a bone-crunching hug. "Oh, friend Nightwalker, it has been wonderful to meet you! I have made you the glorg of my own planet for you to enjoy on your trip!"

When Nightwalker looked over Starfire's shoulder, she saw all the Titans adamantly shaking their heads.

"Um, thanks, Starfire. That's really…nice of you." She grinned at her. "I'll be sure to save it for when I need something to remind me of the Tower." _Or when I need to mortar bricks._

Everyone else heaved a sigh of relief. Aqualad was the next to step forward.

"I made a quick trip to Atlantis when I heard you were leaving again," he said. He held out a box that looked like it had been made from mother-of-pearl. "A friend of mine made this for you."

Nightwalker took the box, curious. She opened it to find a small gemstone mounted in a silver teardrop setting. It was filled with a deep blue liquid that sparkled in the light from the stars overhead. She drew it out, carefully, to find that it was on a fine, yet incredibly strong, silver chain.

"Oh, wow," she whispered. "Aqualad—this is _beautiful._"

He loosened his glove slightly to reveal an identical stone on a bracelet. "They're linked. You know, to make communicating easier. Tula wasn't sure if it would work from another dimension, but the connection is mostly psychic, so I thought you would be able to work with it."

Nightwalker slipped it around her neck and felt it settle into place. She stepped forward and gave her friend a hug. _It's perfect, Garth. Thank you,_ she told him telepathically.

After she pulled away, Herald was standing there. He grinned at her. "I didn't know what to get you. So I just figured I'd give you a break. Any crises that come up for the next month or so in this universe, I'll handle. After that, you're being called into duty."

She chuckled. "A month is still longer than I expected. Thanks."

Robin was the last one. After everyone else had wished her good luck and left, he came up to her and pulled something out of his pocket.

"It's been great having you here," he told her. "You have no idea how glad I was to learn that you were okay. Since I want to make sure you stay okay, and since you've been getting better with the bo-staff, well…" he held out a foot-long capped metal tube. Nightwalker took it and examined it, finding a two buttons on the sides. A press of the first caused it to extend at both ends until it was a comfortable three feet long, and she gave it a quick whirl before settling the end on her shoulder. The balance was just right. She took it off her shoulder and looked at it.

"Don't be touching the ends when you activate the second button," he warned her.

Nightwalker held it out in front of her and held down the button. There was a crackle, and electricity ran along the tips. Releasing her grip caused it to die down. Examining the ends, she found that there were words engraved on it.

_To N. from R. Siblings in all but blood._

She blinked as her eyes dampened, and looked at the other end. This inscription read, _See you in your dreams._

She was definitely crying now. Wiping her eyes, she looked up at Robin, who was looking nervous. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

Nightwalker leaned forward and hugged him tightly until he let out a small gasp for breath. Giving one last squeeze, she released him.

"This is perfect," she said, quietly. "I mean it. Dick, _you_ have no idea how happy I was to finally find _you_. And I swear that I will be back. If I don't make it, well…"

"Don't talk like that," he said, fiercely. "You _will_ be back. I am not losing you again."

Nightwalker smiled at him, a truly genuine smile. Unlike the last time they had parted, this smile was full of hope and love, not fear. "Goodbye, Dick. I'll see you again soon."

Robin grinned at his friend. "See you soon. Oh, and I'd ditch the glorg as soon as possible. Tamaranean cooking is…creative. And not always in a good way."

Nightwalker shouldered the jar. "I'll keep that in mind. Keep a weather eye on the horizon, Robin." And with those cryptic words, she lifted off the roof, flying up and up and up.

Robin watched as Nightwalker's form floated until it was smaller than his thumb. Right before his eyes, there was a black silhouette against a cloud, and then she was gone.

* * *

Nightwalker traversed the Void, the jar of glorg disintegrating as it fell from her hands. She had shielded her pack so that even if she had to store it in the Void, it would be able to last on its own indefinitely.

She was in the mood for something—somewhere—exciting. Keeping that in mind, she traveled out of the metaverse's reach, letting the Void take her where it willed. She wound up at an access point, which was what she and Herald had decided to call the dimensional "hotspots" where the borders between worlds were weakened. This one was fairly small. It would close after one use, but one use was all she needed. Once she got into a universe, she could get in and out again anytime she wished. Had this been 'her' metaverse, she would have been able to follow her connection to Robin, but here, she had to use an access point.

Slipping off her bag, which was already tagged with a psychic tracker in case she had to draw it out, Nightwalker moved close to the access point.

"Geronimo," she breathed, falling through.

She landed inside a metal corridor, one that wouldn't have looked out of place on a battleship or submarine. Peering out a porthole, she was pleasantly shocked to discover that she was, in fact, on a spaceship. One that seemed to be in the middle of a fleet of identical, round ships. There was a whirring noise from behind her, and she spun around, putting her hand on her new bo-staff.

There were several aliens approaching her, all identical. Perhaps 'aliens' was the wrong term, since these looked more like robots. They resembled metal pepper shakers, with a cylindrical body and a rounded head, and had three extensions of their body. There was an extension with a blue glowing tip near the top, and two extensions closer to their middle, one with a plunger on it and the other with a whisk-like contraption.

A mechanical voice emerged from it as she watched. "_Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Maximum extermination!"_

_Oh, shit,_ she thought, not quite understanding what was happening, but knowing a threat when she heard one. She ducked and whirled, running off down the hallway. As she ran past a doorway, she thought she caught a glimpse of another human running in another direction. Several more of the pepper-pots seemed to be chasing him as well.

She was in a brand new metaverse and universe, millions of miles away from anything familiar, being chased by strange metal aliens that seemed intent on killing her, and having the time of her life.

So Nightwalker ran for her life down the corridor of a hostile alien spaceship, exhilaration pumping through her veins, laughing all the way.

**So here we are, on the last chapter. This particular story is over now, though I am far from being done with Nightwalker. She's just too much fun. Thanks to everyone who stuck with this story.**

**Anyone who's read my other story, The Girl In The Fedora, will know where this is going. If you haven't, check out the quasi-sequel on my profile involving the 10th Doctor. It's currently listed as a one-shot, but I plan on updating soon. Aside from that, i have another story, involving Young Justice, already half-written (It's also long) but I don't know whether I should finish TGITF or start posting that one. Feedback is appreciated!**

**Thanks for the reviews and general love, people. And thanks again to eesanchez95. Start posting something! You give such good advice, I'd love to see your writing.**

**I honestly do not know when the next Girl in the Fedora chapter will be up, though I will mention that an angry Nick Fury will be involved...**

**I know I've said this twice already, but THANK YOU FOR READING THIS STORY! I LOVE YOU ALL!**


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